


Chasing New Dreams

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Series: Soulmate Dreams [10]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: M/M, Pregnancy, Skating Season, Soulmate AU, Yuri's Father Sucks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-05-10 06:23:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 35
Words: 47,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14731619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: This year should be a nice, relaxing one as far as skating is concerned.  Viktor and Yuuri can relax after the pressure of the Olympics year, and Yuri will face a higher quality of challenger as he moves up to juniors.Off the ice, Yuuri and Viktor are in their final year of college, and planning a baby with the help of Mari.  Yuri's still waiting for the other shoe to drop with Lev, while trying not to let Misha's retirement and Viktor and Yuuri's baby excitement set off his abandonment issues.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A reminder about the [character guide](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1u2E6SLBFZ7AqU7ASGQnxOuD9MunnubROkH-WLVs_BnU/edit?usp=sharing), which includes the Dragon Hoard. If there's anything else you'd like to see added to that, leave me a comment!

Viktor could feel the program idea within him. It was there. He just had to get it out of there and onto the ice, and that was proving to be difficult. After beating his head against the wall one time too many, he gave up for the day and headed for the side of the rink to watch Yuuri.

It wasn’t long before Yuuri joined him at the side of the rink. “Something wrong?”

“Just getting frustrated. I’ll be fine with just a bit of a rest! Don’t worry about me.” Viktor grabbed his water bottle and took a long drink. “Do you have any idea what you’re going to do for your program?”

“I know it’s something a lot of skaters do at some point, but there’s a reason for it. I’m skating to music from Phantom of the Opera for the free skate. My short program’s going to be to ‘Ghost Riders in the Sky.’ Phichit’s idea.” Yuuri grinned. “Yakov approved it this morning. Exhibition skate I’m still deciding on. Ghostbusters, maybe?”

“That would be fun! I like it. What about vacation? Any ideas there?”

Yuuri shook his head. “After the way this semester started, I was thinking about just going to Hasetsu and burying myself on the beach there and not moving for two weeks, but I’ve recovered a bit now that it’s off-season, and there’s also the fact that we have this year and next year free and then we’ll have to make vacation plans around having a kid. If there are things we want to do that we don’t want to take a young kid on, we either do them now or wait probably at least eight to ten years.”

“True! Anything specific you want to do?”

“Phichit says we should do a world-wide ninja hunt.”

“Phichit has the best ideas, but that’s not going to be very relaxing. Maybe save that one for next year.” Viktor winked. “I was thinking do a cruise… we still get to have fun, but it’s also a nice relaxing time.”

Yuuri set down his water bottle. “And you know exactly where you want to go, don’t you.”

“Well, yes, but that doesn’t mean if you come up with an idea I wouldn’t be happy to switch,” Viktor said. “Greece. Lots of history, lots of warmth, good food…”

“Sounds good to me.”

“What do you think about this new Challenger Series the ISU is putting together? Are you going to participate?” Viktor was pretty sure he knew what Yuuri’s answer would be, but Yuuri might decide that it was worth it to go for the prize money.

“Not this year. We already miss so much school for the Grand Prix and Nationals, and our professors have been mostly good about working with us there, so I don’t want to miss even more. If it goes well and they do it again next fall, we’ll see.” That’s what Viktor had figured Yuuri would say. “Besides, and this is going to sound so arrogant and awful, but if we don’t participate, that’s a chance for other people to win medals they normally wouldn’t. Which is the point of this, right? Give people more chances to meet goals?”

“No one likes having it handed to them. I agree with you about the university thing, though. I just thought you might want the prize money.”

Yuuri shook his head with a smile. “I do, but… I don’t need it, nobody in Hasetsu needs it, so I’m willing to sit it out. Yuri would probably kick me, but his situation is different.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I know you used to worry a lot about your family’s financial security.”

“Yeah, well, that was when Hasetsu was a dying town. Now it’s growing, and the problem isn’t finding enough customers to make enough money to get by, it’s keeping up with demand. Are you gonna do any of the Challenger Series?”

“No, like you said, this year we need to focus on school. The Grand Prix is one thing, the Challenger Series is quite another. I think Yakov’s expecting to hear that, too. He’s already talked to Mila and Georgi about making sure they checked dates and didn’t go to events scheduled against Grand Prix events one of us is in, but he hasn’t said anything to me. Has he talked to you?”

“No. Less frustrated yet?”

“Maybe. I’ll try to get something out, anyway.” Viktor put down his water bottle and skated back out.

 

Yuri and Yakov were fighting over Yuri’s program. Yuri wanted to do something cool, that he enjoyed, like superheroes or rock stars; Yakov wanted him to do something a bit more serious. “This is so dumb. Yakov’s let you guys do video games and ninjas and pirates, why can’t I do superheroes?” Yuri said after complaining during dinner with Viktor and Yuuri.

“Junior debut. Just think how bad he’s going to be for your senior debut,” Viktor said. “And then the year after is an Olympics year, so that’s three high pressure years out of the next four. After that, he’ll let you go nuts and do silly stuff, or next year, but this year, doing a serious program helps you get taken seriously by the judges. You probably don’t need it, but it can’t hurt.”

“Ragnarok is cool, right?” Yuuri said.

“Hell yeah. Why?”

“Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Yakov is not going to object to a masterpiece of opera, and you get to do something cool. I bet Lilia will have some ideas for which songs would make good skates. If you still want to do a superhero thing, you could look up songs from the Thor movies and do that for your exhibition skate.”

Viktor clapped. “You should choreograph it, Yuuri! You know how, you know what Yuri’s capable of and how to push him, Yakov won’t mind.”

Yuri thought that over. “That would be cool. It’s a good idea, and if you’re willing to choreograph it, that would be pretty neat. Viktor did my novice debut.”

Yuuri glared at Viktor, but Viktor’s enthusiasm didn’t dim a bit. “Yuuuuri, you can choreograph and you know it, and choreographing for Yuri would be a nice low-pressure first program for someone else.”

“I’m more worried about time. Yakov’s going to want us to be seriously working by June, so I can’t wait until school’s out…”

“You’ll be fine, Yuuri, I promise. It’s not like Yuri doesn’t have plenty to work on while he’s waiting,” Viktor said.

Yuuri looked between Viktor and Yuri. “Fine. If Yakov says I can, I’ll choreograph your program, Yuri.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Assignments and Misha's still one of the gang even if he's not skating.
> 
> Timeline: June 2014

Yakov agreed readily to both Yuri’s idea and Yuuri choreographing it. Lilia promised to help if he needed it, but she encouraged him to do as much of it on his own as he could. It was tough, working on two programs between classes, but by the end of May, Yuuri had both ready and approved by Yakov and Yuri.

Viktor hugged Yuuri when Yuuri told him it was done. “I told you you could do it! Next year, do mine and I’ll do yours?”

“Maybe. I’ll think about it,” Yuuri promised. It had been a fun challenge, trying to choreograph for someone other than himself, and in some ways Viktor would be easier because Yuuri knew his skating so well, while Yuri’s was still developing. “Just keep in mind that next year I’ll be freaking out about graduation and the upcoming baby.”

“On the other hand, next year you won’t be exhausted from Olympics press tours!”

 

By the beginning of June, all Yuuri had left was final exams, and those were spaced out over the next three weeks. Viktor still had his project to work on, along with exams, but he made sure to take the time to enjoy himself. He had finally found his program – Yakov hated it, but he was willing to go along with the plan of demons. If Viktor wanted to look ridiculous, let him.

Misha dropped by the rink on his birthday, just in time to hear Yakov say that assignments were out. He took a seat with the rest of them to listen.

“All right. Yuri, season starts with you. You’re in Slovenia at the end of August, along with Saviliy, who I’d thought moved up but apparently not. I expect this is just a formality, but do not get distracted by Otabek being there too.”

“Of course not. Can’t get to the Finals if I blow my first qualifier by getting distracted,” Yuri said.

“And then you’ve got the SBC in Japan, second week of September. Should be another good one for you. Minami Kenjirou is probably the biggest competition you’ll have there.”

“Nice. Japan. That should be fun.” Yuri stuck his tongue out at Yuuri. “And you guys can’t come because of school. That sucks.”

“Yuuko might come up to watch. Kenjirou’s her rinkmate, after all. Or Mari.”

Yakov waited until they settled down. “Seniors, if you want to do Challenger Series events, they start that same weekend. If you want me there, pay attention to dates and don’t accept invitations to ones that conflict with Grand Prix events I have skaters in. Which begins with Skate America – Viktor, you’re in that one. Loaded group, too, you’ve got Chris, Kamil, and Jude, and possibly Kaleb if he can get stuff figured out. Phichit’s going to be there, too.”

“Please tell me I’m not in Canada,” Yuuri said.

Yakov smiled. “You’re not in Canada. Mila, you’re also in America, with Sara, Skye, and Cathy. You won’t have it any easier. Be ready.”

“Nice! We’re going to have so much fun there,” Mila said.

“Canada, none of you are in. China, that’s you, Yuuri. Chris and Bin are your big competition, although you’ll probably want to keep an eye on Su and Rykov. Yuuko’s there, too.”

“Oh, that’ll be nice!” Yuuri said.

“Very, since Viktor can’t go,” Yakov said. “Rostelecom. Viktor, Georgi, and Mila, you’re all there. Jude and Phichit, and I’m intending to pay close attention to JJ.”

“Why?” Yuri interrupted.

Yakov glared at him. “Because whatever you think of him as a person, he has the potential to be a world medalist skater, and I want to see how he handles the transition to seniors. Mila, you’ve got Sara again, plus Raisa and Iona. Cassie might make a move, too, so don’t count her out. Then nobody in France, leaving Georgi and Yuuri in Japan. Bin and Rykov again, along with Su and Togai. Yuuko again, too.”

“Huh. And this time, Viktor can come!” Yuuri said.

“And I’m not skating, so I might go to Hasetsu to give Mari a little more flexibility with timing,” Viktor said. “It’ll be so much fun!”

Yakov glanced down at his phone. “Yuri, after the Junior Grand Prix, your fall’s pretty open. Ice Star in October, there’s a junior competition the week of the Trophee Eric Bompard you could go to since I’m not going to that one.”

Yuri shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”

“Okay. Bad news, Yuuri, I won’t be able to get to any of the Japan Nationals, the overlap with Russia is just too bad.”

“I’m not surprised. It sucks, but Minako will come.”

“All right. Spring is going to be a lot quieter with Yuri in juniors, but I get to start off with four competitions in four weeks. Europeans, Junior Nationals, Four Continents, and the Challenge Cup for Yuri. Then a week off, then Junior Worlds – Yuri, that’s three competitions in five weeks, if you want to drop out of the Challenge Cup just let me know.”

Yuri shook his head. “No. I like that one.”

“Up to you. And then we’ve got Worlds in March and the World Team Cup in April. Should be a good season. Let me know about any Challenger Series events as soon as you decide which ones, if any, you’re doing.”

Misha started laughing. Off the strange looks, “I’ve been retired long enough to get used to it, and yet I still nearly asked where I was competing in the Grand Prix, since Yakov didn’t say. Good luck, all of you.”

“Thanks. So what brought you here?” Viktor said. “You don’t have your skates with you, so it’s not to skate.”

“No, part of it’s for the nostalgia, it’s my birthday and I can indulge if I want to, but I also came to ask Yakov for some advice on some paperwork issues I ran into. You guys are coming to dinner tonight, right?”

“Of course!” Viktor promised.

 

Misha’s birthday dinner was a lot of fun. Nika was nearly four years old, and even though it was Misha’s birthday, Nika got most of the attention. Misha didn’t mind a bit. “So I hear your kid’s going to be just about a year younger than my second?”

“That’s the plan,” Yuuri said. “How’s Nika taking the idea that he’s going to be a big brother?”

“Better than Yuri did,” Misha said. Yuri looked up from playing with Svetlana the Kitty to stick his tongue out at Misha. “I’m not sure he quite understands that it’s going to be a baby, so he can’t play horsies or make believe or share his toys right away, but we’ll get there. He’s going to preschool this fall, so that should help.”

“Or make it worse,” Yuri said. “I know, Nika’s not me, he’s never had to worry about his parents not being there, but he could look at being sent to school when the new baby comes as you two pushing him aside for the shiny new toy.”

“Huh. Hadn’t thought of that. Any ideas how to keep that from happening?”

“Mom tells stories about Mari going through that,” Yuuri said. “She said that the best thing she could think of to do was to make sure there was time set aside that was just for her, where Dad or someone else was responsible for me. It only took a couple weeks. It might take longer with Nika because you were traveling, but he should get there eventually. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind giving you more advice if you want to give her a call sometime.”

“Thanks. I’ll probably do that. And thanks Yuri, for making me think of it.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuri's annual trip to America for his sister's birthday. 
> 
> Timeline: June 2014

Yuri was really trying not to let his well-justified issues with his mom drag down his vacation. One cute little sister and one baby sister to visit! Katya was probably old enough to be more fun, too. Yuri couldn’t wait to see them.

When he got out of security, Yuri found himself under attack by a tiny blonde hug monster. “Hi, Natasha! You got to come to the airport?”

“Papa wanted me to stay at home. Mama made him bring me. Katya’s ears hurt and she cries a lot.”

“And that makes your ears hurt?” Yuri teased.

Natasha giggled. “It means Mama has to pay more attention to her. Katya’s ears hurt a lot, too. Mama says she might need tubes.”

“Tubes?” Yuri looked over at Boris. Natasha wouldn’t know how to explain.

“She’s getting ear infections a lot, and the fluid doesn’t drain like it’s supposed to,” Boris explained. “The tubes will help that, and that means less chance of hearing loss. It’s common and it’ll help a lot.”

“Poor kid.” Yuri patted Natasha’s head. “Come on, let’s go get my bags so we can go home.”

“I don’t wanna go home. Katya’s probably crying.” Natasha let go to fold her arms over her chest and pouted. “She’s such a baby.”

“Well, yeah, she’s a baby because she’s a baby,” Yuri said. “She’ll grow out of it, I promise.”

 

Natasha hadn’t been kidding – Katya cried a lot. When she wasn’t crying, she was fun, but Natasha got a bit pouty when Yuri played with Katya instead of her. One night, after putting Natasha to bed, Yuri found Irina. “Does Natasha have a problem with you spending time with Katya?”

“She understands that when Katya’s sick, I have to, but yes. I think it’s worse with you because you’re not responsible for taking care of Katya, just playing with her.” Irina patted Yuri’s shoulder. “It’s something she’ll have to get used to, though. It’ll be good for her to learn to share attention before she starts school.”

“I just don’t wanna make her feel like she’s getting abandoned for the new kid. You know?”

Irina rolled her eyes. “You and Natasha have a special bond. It’ll do her good to know that that won’t change just because she has to share you with her sister. Not like you haven’t adopted other siblings, right?”

“Nika and Natasha and the triplets are hardly ever in the same place at the same time, though. Before, when I was here, I spent every second I could with her, and now she has to share that with Katya. I don’t want her to feel abandoned…”

Irina sighed and got to her feet. “Well, I’m not letting you ignore your other sister, so you’ll just have to find a way to deal with it. Welcome to growing up, kid.” She walked off, leaving Yuri blinking after her.

 

On the list of things Yuri Plisetsky Did Not Want To Do On His Vacation, going to Toronto had to be right at the top, and yet. Boris had apologized for misremembering the date Yuri was leaving and scheduling a work trip for himself, Irina, and Natasha while Yuri was still in New York, and although Yuri wasn’t entirely sure it was an accident, he just shrugged it off. “My friend’s moving to Toronto the day after you’re going there, so I can go help him move in, probably.” Otabek loved the idea of getting to see Yuri, and Cécile ran it by her parents and got permission for Yuri and Katya to come stay with them while the others were working, and Natasha when she wasn’t busy. Yuri could stay with them until he had to go back to Saint Petersburg, even.

Getting to hang out with Otabek and Cécile was the only thing Yuri could think of that would make it worth having to deal with JJ that much, but it was worth it. Besides, JJ had gone with Alain to Detroit to pick up Otabek and bring him to Toronto. Katya was a bit overwhelmed with all the kids, but Natasha loved it. Five-year-old Claude was the closest to her age, and Cécile watched in surprise as he showed Natasha where the good toys were. “He’s usually worse than Julien about socializing. He didn’t talk until he was almost two, and even with us, he kind of hides. I guess he thinks your sister’s cute.”

“Ugh, really? She’s _four_.”

“Huh?” Cécile stared at Yuri, but then understanding dawned. “Not what I meant! No soulmate speculation here! I just meant, like, fun to play with.”

“Oh. Sorry. Just a little on edge.”

“Well, yeah, you’ve been getting that crap since you were little, haven’t you? Thanks to Viktor and Yuuri? I’d be paranoid too.” Cécile shrugged. “Mom’s not happy about the rumors that me and Julien are dating. Partly because we’re not supposed to until our soulmates, and partly because JJ and Andrée should’ve been first.”

“Is me being here going to be a problem?”

“Nah. Anyone who’s stupid enough to think Mom and Dad would let you stay here if there were anything to be worth talking about doesn’t deserve to dictate what we do. Don’t worry about it.”

 

Yuri forgot all about his concerns the next day when Otabek showed up and got settled in. Yuri only had a couple days before he had to go home, but he made the most of them, hanging out with Otabek and his sisters and the not-awful LeRoys. “Any chance Dariya gets to come out here?” Yuri asked.

Otabek shook his head. “Mom and Dad don’t want her leaving Kazakhstan and home. It sucks. The stupid rumors have them a little skittish, too. Which is even stupider.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. Apparently it’s not safe for a girl to be around a freaking eleven-year-old without her parents. I’m gonna keep working on it, maybe they’ll let her come once they realize that nobody here is gonna try anything, but I just want to know what the hell they let her skate competitively for if they’re not gonna let her go where she needs to go to get good enough to be a star.”

“Yeah. That’s gotta be frustrating. Don’t they trust you to look out for her?”

Otabek rolled his eyes. “Neither of us are anywhere near your level of publicity, but apparently there are rumors going around back home in Almaty that I moved to Canada to be with my boyfriend.”

Yuri gagged. “Seriously? You and fucking JJ?”

“Well, no, I think they know there’s no fucking going on. But yeah, there’s rumors. No truth to them. I’ve got too much to do with skating to want to date anyone but my soulmate if they show up in November.”

“What if JJ’s your soulmate?”

“Then I won’t know about it for over a year. We’ll figure it out then.” That was not what Yuri wanted to hear, but... soulmates. Even a crappy soulmate probably deserved a chance. Unless he knew they were gonna be another Lev, which for all JJ's flaws? That was not a concern.

 

When Yuri got to Saint Petersburg, he just missed Yuuri and Viktor. That was okay. They’d be back, and in the meantime, he had Nika and Mila to hang out and Georgi to learn from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. School's out for summer! Hopefully I can kick this annoyingly-timed writer's block's ass!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Viktor and Yuuri's vacation and snippits of press and internet silliness.
> 
> Timeline: late June/early July 2014

The trip to Greece started with three days in Athens, where Viktor got to go nuts visiting historical sites and shopping. Thankfully, the weather stayed nice enough that they could at least hold hands on their trips, although any time they saw a camera aimed at them they let go and moved several steps apart. After one person threw his coffee on the ground and stormed off, Viktor burst into laughter. “Do they really think this is that important? How is it even a story anymore that we love each other?”

“I know! You’d think they’d be more interested in reporting like they did in Egypt, where we’re obviously breaking up because we’re not being all cuddly,” Yuuri said. “Such a waste of coffee, too.”

 

When they left Athens, it was on a ship for their cruise. The first stop was Mykonos, an absolutely stunning island where all the buildings were white with very bright colors. Ten minutes after getting off the ship, Viktor turned to Yuuri. “I’m torn. Should we have brought Yuri, or should we lie about Mykonos and say it’s the most boring place in the world and he’d hate it and he should never come here?”

“Why would we do that?” Yuuri asked.

Viktor looked pointedly at the cat Yuuri had crouched to pet. “I’m not sure we’d ever get him back if he came to a place with so many friendly cats roaming the streets.”

Yuuri grinned. “He’d want to come home to Potya, I bet. Now, give him an island where friendly tigers roamed the streets…”

“We’d never see him again!”

“If we told him never to come here, you know it would be the first place he’d go once he’s old enough to run off on vacation on his own,” Yuuri said. “So let’s not do that?”

 

From Mykonos, they sailed to Santorini. “This is a popular wedding destination,” Viktor said. “Should we expect stories about how we’re getting remarried already?”

“Probably. Biggest problem with that, Sasha and my family aren’t here, but little things like logic and common sense and knowledge of what we’re like hasn’t ever stopped them before. Probably rumors that our first wedding was fake but now that we’re talking about having a baby we want to do it for real. I’m sure Phichit will be all over it.”

“It is a very romantic place.” Viktor wrapped his arms around Yuuri, holding him close. “I’d still rather get remarried in Hasetsu, if we ever feel the need, but if Chris and Masumi get married? I could see them choosing here.”

Yuuri pulled away to look up at Viktor. “You’re not going to start talking about soulmate behavior, are you?”

“I wasn’t, no? Why do you ask?”

“You… have some rather strong views on soulmates, and questioning whether they’re going to get married…”

“Whatever they do now is their own business. They met each other, gave each other an honest chance, and if they break up, well, sometimes things don’t work. I don’t expect them to break up, they are perfect for each other, but it could happen!” Viktor pulled Yuuri back in, and Yuuri went very happily. “I don’t really expect them to get married, either, they seem perfectly happy not married.”

“You used to have a pretty big problem with them having things with other people…” Yuuri prodded.

Viktor sighed. “I still do, but as long as they’re happy and they’re not messing with other people’s soulbonds… not really my business, is it? You’ve done a good job of getting that through to me.”

 

Next up was Crete, where they visited several Minoan ruins. Yuuri pouted a little when they got back on the ship after a long day. “I wanted to see the labyrinth!”

“You… do know it’s not real, right? At least, if it was real, they haven’t found the ruins?” Viktor said.

“I know, but if I’m disappointed, you might spend the evening cheering me up.” Yuuri winked at Viktor.

“Oh! Well. In that case.” Viktor picked Yuuri up and carried him to their cabin.

 

Then it was off to Rhodes, to see the Colossus and the medieval castle there. The final stop wasn’t an island. It wasn’t even Greece. Ephesus in Turkey, where they could see ruins of the ancient city, including the Temple of Artemis for another of the ancient wonders checked off. Then it was back to Athens where they took a day trip out to Delphi.

Phichit glared at them when he met them at the airport in Detroit. “I can’t believe my best friend didn’t invite me to his real wedding.”

Yuuri and Viktor both dissolved into giggles. “We’re sorry. Next time, I promise!” Yuuri said. “How about this, you can be my best man when I get married for real?”

“Deal.” Phichit’s usual sunny grin came back out. “If you guys don’t mind staying at the airport for a while, Chris and Masumi’s flight just landed, and I’d like to be here to meet them when they get out, too.”

“Perfect!” Viktor said.

Chris, Masumi, and Seung Gil more than made up for JJ and Otabek not being there, and the time they spent in Detroit was a great way to recharge. Celestino smiled at them when they dropped by the rink to say hello. “Good. You’re not showing up injured this time. I think Yakov would ban you from coming to Detroit ever again if I sent you back hurt twice!”

“Probably. On the other hand, you at least sent me back treated,” Yuuri said.

 

The night before they left, Yuuri dragged Phichit outside. “How’s the soulmate thing going?”

“Great. He’s here dealing with everyone, isn’t he?” Phichit winked at Yuuri. “Seriously, it’s been great. He’s been out here two weeks, he’s leaving with the rest of you guys tomorrow, and I really feel like we’re going to be good together. We’re not you and Viktor, but neither of us would want to be anyway. You know, when I told him he was my soulmate, he thought I was joking?”

“You joke a lot, but not about something like that, and didn’t he turn eighteen last month?” Phichit loved jokes, but not malicious ones, and not _stupid_ ones. Definitely not ones he'd lose a friend over.

“Yeah. It’s just that he got bullied a lot as a kid, and he was more than half convinced he wasn’t going to have a soulmate, so getting me… I’d never seen him so openly happy as he was that week after my birthday we stayed in Thailand together.”

 

Final stop was in Hasetsu, where Hiroko insisted on momming them as much as she could. They skated at the Ice Castle with Yuuko, working some with the triplets when they had the chance. All three of them had become good skaters, and while Yuuko wasn’t going to start teaching them anything fancier than some simple figures and steps until they had better coordination, they had all taken to the ice like it was in their blood.

Mari confirmed that she was ready when they were to start working on the baby, not that she was hinting they should get started, there was a plan, but just making sure they knew that when it was time, she wasn’t going to back out. “Also, you might hear gossip while you’re here, so I should probably tell you this before you hear garbled rumors. I’m having Kokei-related issues.”

“Uhoh. What’s he doing?” Yuuri said, taking Viktor’s hand and holding it.

Mari shook her head. “He’s not doing anything. I believe him when he says it’s not him. Someone set up a fake Twitter where he’s tweeting about his bitch of a soulmate having kids for everybody but him.”

“Doesn’t he have kids?” Viktor asked. “I remember hearing about at least one, I’m sure…”

“Yeah, he’s got two, a son and a daughter. One very good reason I believed him when he called to tell me the Twitter existed and it wasn’t him.” Mari shrugged. "It's really not that big a deal, but Bin's already been asked about it, and you guys might be too. I know you guys have publicists and all, but I'd appreciate it if you'd say something along the lines of it's my choice and no one else's who I carry a baby for. Don't say anything too awful about Kokei. I was skeptical when we first ran into him, but it's been long enough that I really do buy that he's changed since we were together."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This vacation is based on one I went on with my family when I was eleven. Mykonos really does have a lot of cats that roam the streets, and are generally treated as features of the neighborhoods. We got adopted by a dog who followed us around, all the way back to our ship.
> 
> The cruise did not start out well: the ship we were supposed to be taking burned less than a week before we were supposed to leave. It got so much better. One of my favorite trips ever.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First competition of the year! Yuri gets to achieve three of his dreams.
> 
> Timeline: August 2014

July and August passed in training, working their asses off, and Viktor and Yuuri enjoying the break before their final year of university began. Yuri pointed and laughed at them, even knowing that it was going to be him trying to balance university with skating in five years or so. Unless Yakov decided to retire and Yuri went and trained in Canada or Japan or Kazakhstan or something.

The skating season kicked off with the Junior Grand Prix qualifiers. Yuri wasn’t in the first one, but Richard was, so Yuri watched. Kenjirou and Guang Hong were there as well, and they took silver and gold respectively. Richard just missed the podium, finishing fourth behind another French skater, Matthieu Jacquinard.

“What’s Matthieu like?” Yuri asked when he called Richard after the free skate.

“Kind of a dick. Not malicious, he doesn’t go out of his way to hurt people, but he’s stuck-up and doesn’t have much of a sense of humor. Basically, take the French snob stereotype, turn it up to eleven, and add a dash of drama queen and compensating for being so short for his age. I knew he was gonna beat me, but I didn’t realize he was going to be such an ass about it. We’re probably going to be teammates at the World Team Trophy once we get up into Seniors, why be such a jerk?”

“No idea. Sorry to hear that. Why didn’t he go up to seniors this year? He’s better than that guy who’s skating for France now.”

“Hoping for a growth spurt before then? I don’t know.”

“Well, you’ll just have to show him that he’s an idiot, won’t you.”

“You’ll compete against him before I will. He’s in Japan with you. Kick his ass.”

 

There was Slovenia to get through before Yuri could think about kicking Matthieu’s ass in Japan, and Yakov would kill him if he lost focus. Yakov was already a little on edge because of Otabek being there, which was dumb. Just because Otabek was a friend off the ice didn’t mean that Yuri would let him be a distraction from the ice. Yuuri and Viktor spent nearly all their time hanging out with other skaters, and Mila was just as bad, and Georgi could be the worst if the right skater was there, so what exactly was Yakov’s problem?

Whatever it was, it didn’t stop him from going to Otabek as soon as they arrived. “Hey. You ready to kick some butt?”

“Yep. I don’t think I’ll beat either Russian here, but I don’t see anyone who can stop me from taking bronze.” Otabek pulled up something on his phone. “My older brother is ridiculous and I love him. Look what he’s getting me for my birthday.” 

“Your birthday’s not for two months,” Yuri said.

Otabek smirked. “I know, which is why I don’t have it yet, but he’s gonna come out as soon as I tell him I’ve got my license and take me to get it. He’s talked to the dealer and it’s reserved.”

Yuri finally looked down at the phone, and his jaw dropped. “Your brother’s buying you a motorcycle for your birthday?”

“Yeah. He said that when I move back to Kazakhstan he’ll buy me a Harley like his, but this is my training bike. Since I’m not there for him to teach me like he promised when he got his motorcycle license. I had to do some quick research to make sure I can still get a license at 16 in Canada. I can.”

“And the LeRoys are going to let you use it, once you’ve got your license?”

“Yeah, they called my dad to make sure he and mom were cool with it, and I have to promise to be safe, but I care enough about my career that I wasn’t planning on getting too crazy anyway.”

“Wow. Next summer I’m coming back to Toronto if I can find a way to talk Yakov or Boris into it.” Difficult, but maybe Boris could find another job there.

 

One downside to the move to Juniors – the competitions were much more attended, which meant more Angels. On the plus side, there was more security, too. Yuri wasn’t hassled much as he arrived to start warming up. Otabek would be skating in the second group, Yuri in the third, and Saviliy, the other Russian skater, in the fourth.

There were a couple decent scores when Otabek took the ice, but nothing Yuri didn’t think Otabek could beat. Otabek had a clean skate, and his base value was good, so it was no surprise when Otabek’s score of 61 put him in the lead. That held up until Yuri’s turn. For the short program, Yuri was skating to “Ride of the Valkyries”, one of his favorite songs even before he’d been thinking about skating to Wagner. The music started, Yuri got up to speed, and then he finally got to do a triple axel in competition. It went just fine, as did his triple Lutz, and his combination spin was beautiful. This was a good start to his junior career, and he knew it as he scooped up the tigers he saw in his path to the Kiss and Cry.

Yakov had enough to say to keep him talking until his score popped up. Even as confident as Yuri had been, he still had to blink in surprise a couple times at the 73. “That’s good. That’s very good.”

“It is. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re in first at the end of the day,” Yakov agreed. He was right, although Saviliy got close, with a 72. Otabek’s 61 was good enough for third.

 

The free skate was the next day, and Yuri was so ready for it. He’d seen the scores from the week before. They were good, but Yuri had faith that he could do better. It took a while for skaters to start breaking 100, and by the final group, only one had broken 110. Otabek put up a 129, guaranteeing himself a medal, and Saviliy a 141. Yuri was a little concerned about the 141. He could beat it, but this wasn’t a guaranteed victory the way novices had been after the first year. Saviliy had even done a quad. Yuri wasn’t going to even try to get Yakov to let him. For one thing, Saviliy was turning eighteen in a few weeks, and for another, Yakov wasn’t his coach.

For this, he was skating to music from a scene where some woman immolated herself and then Valhalla burned. This time, he didn’t start out with the triple axel, but it was still early. Yakov had insisted because of how excited he was to do it. Once the excitement was out of his system, Yakov would let him put it later in the program if he needed the extra points for Finals or Worlds, but he had to get there first. Everything went smoothly until a triple loop-triple loop combination, where he nearly touched the ice on the second jump. He saved it, but still, those were some lost points. He recovered well, letting the mistake stay behind him, and Yakov didn’t harp on it much in the Kiss and Cry. Yuri’s score was also a 141, a few tenths below Saviliy’s, but he had enough of a lead from the short program that he was still claiming gold again. It was the first of what he hoped would be a lot of podium trips with Otabek.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagoya TV Cup.
> 
> Timeline: September 10-13

The Ostrava Cup the next week went well. Leo took the gold, Emil silver. Then Yuri was off to Japan to wipe the smirk off a French twit’s face. Viktor and Yuuri couldn’t come, because of school. Yuuri was freaking out a bit because he’d be spending the next two weeks as a teaching assistant in one of the freshman courses. He hadn’t realized back then that the TAs were seniors, not graduate students. Once that was over with, it was class, translation, and working on a year-long project. Viktor was back to a heavy Russian focus, and like Yuuri, had a year-long project to work on.

With Yuuko off in America for the inaugural Challenger Series event, Yuri really didn’t expect to see anyone he knew aside from the other skaters. It was therefore a bit of surprise when Mari met him at the hotel. “Hey, kiddo. Yuuri felt bad about not being able to come, so he asked me to.”

“That was nice of him. You didn’t want to go watch Yuuko, though?”

Mari shrugged. “Yuuko’s got Coach Nishigori and Takeshi and the girls. She agreed that Minako and I should be here. You shouldn’t be in Japan without someone from Hasetsu cheering for you. Besides, Kenjirou's here too.”

Yuri’s eyes stung a little, but he forced the tears back. “Well, thanks. It’ll be nice knowing at least one of the people cheering for me is decent.”

“Oh, yeah, speaking of your asshole fans. If Lev shows up, point him out. He’d never see me coming.”

“I’ll do that.” He would love to see what would happen if Lev tried anything with Mari. Or Minako, for that matter. Since he seemed to like flexible women.

 

It didn’t take long for Yuri to pick out Matthieu among the junior men. He was the one stretching in a hallway well away from any of the other skaters. Yuri decided to leave him his space, but kept an eye on him. Kenjirou came bouncing over to him. “Hi! Good luck!”

“Thanks. You too. This is your second competition, right?”

“Yes! I’m hoping for first or second. I don’t know if I can beat you, but I can try, and if I get silver I’ll just have to hope that two silvers are enough for Finals.”

“I hope so. Would love to see you there.” Yuri was confident in his ability to get another gold here – Saviliy, Leo, and Emil weren’t here, and he could take Kenjirou and Matthieu easily. That would get Yuri to the Finals. Those three were likely in, Richard was out, Yuri was hoping Otabek would get in there, and then either Kenjirou or Guang Hong.

Yuri had ended up as the last skater in the first group, which sucked. He liked knowing what he had to do. Not that he’d be doing anything less than his absolute best, but still. There was only one score even over 50 so far, and Yuri hated that. He didn’t want to blame going early for it, he wanted to blame the fact that he just flat out landed on the wrong part of his skate. Either way, he started his program by falling on his ass. At least he got the rotations in on his triple axel first.

The rest of his routine went well, but he was still furious with himself when he skated over to the side. Yes, he knew what Yakov would say about him being pissed he missed the most difficult jump he was doing, but he couldn’t help it. Objectively, 69 was a great score especially considering the fall, and there was a good chance it would hold up, but it bugged him. He should have been over 70.

He was still fuming by the third group, where Kenjirou and Matthieu were both skating. Kenjirou went first, and he at least got over 60, which helped calm Yuri down a little, until Matthieu went out and beat him with a 66. No one else broke 60, leaving Yuri on top. It didn’t matter. He could have done better if he hadn’t fucked up on his landing.

After the competition, Mari took Yuri and Kenjirou to dinner. “You okay, Yuri? Are you picking up my brother’s bad habits of worrying about something you can’t do anything about because it’s done?”

“I’m not worried. I’m pissed. And Yuuri can’t help it. He’s a lot better than he used to be, too.”

“Worried, pissed off, either way it doesn’t help anything and it means you’re dwelling instead of looking ahead. You want me to wake you up early tomorrow to watch Yuuko with me and Minako?”

“Yeah. What time’s she skating?”

“Ladies start at 8:20, she’s in the last group, so if you’re up by ten you should be fine. When that’s over, wanna go to the zoo? They have tigers.”

“Hell yeah. Let me just make sure it’s okay with Yakov. Also, stupid rumors might crop up.”

Mari rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I know. Don’t know why everyone’s in such a hurry to find your soulmate anyway, you’re thirteen.”

 

Yuuko’s competition was somewhat crowded, with Skye, Cathy, Cassie, and Saila all there. She finished the day in third, but very close to Skye and Cathy. After the short program, Yuuri checked to see what was happening with the men. Phichit had done incredibly well in the short program and was in second behind Jude, while Kamil’s short program had been a disaster, going by the score, and he was in sixth.

They spent all afternoon hanging out with the tigers, and Yuri checked in again after the men’s free skate was over. Jude had won, with Paul moving up to take silver over Phichit’s bronze. Kamil had fought his way back to fourth, and Seung Gil finished seventh.

The junior men skated last, with the exhibition shortly after. Scores didn’t start getting high enough for Yuri to care until the last skater of the third group, when finally someone broke 120. Kenjirou’s free skate was fun, and Yuri found himself smiling as he watched Kenjirou dance. He didn’t have the base value Yuri did, but his PCS was going to be great. 130 gave him the lead for the day. Matthieu’s base value was better, but after Kenjirou, he just seemed… bland. 124 was good, but not good enough, as Kenjirou held his lead by less than a point.

Yuri had spent his practice drilling axels as much as Yakov would let him get away with, and his triple axel was great. Probably the best he’d ever done, practice or competition. He also fixed what he’d messed up in Slovenia with his combo. The last jump of his program, a double axel, was flawless. Yuri felt much better about himself as he skated over to Yakov.

“If the judges are at all competent, you’ll be in the Finals,” Yakov said once Yuri sat down. “I don’t know if you’ll need to or not, but if you want to move the triple axel to later in the program, you can.”

“Really? Already?” He’d expected that for Junior Worlds, not here.

“You messed it up and recovered from it. Now it’s just another jump.”

“Thanks!” From there, Yakov went through the usual list of nitpicks and criticisms, but Yuri’s 145 was a great confidence booster. He was proud of that score and looked forward to the Finals where he could do even better. The second gold meant he was in. Kenjirou's second silver gave him a chance, and Matthieu's second bronze meant he was likely out of it. It was a good day.

He woke up early the next morning to watch the ladies’ free skate from America. Yuuko proved that she was the best ladies’ skater in the world by earning the gold, with Skye silver and Cathy bronze. Still close, but Yuuko was on top.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three more competitions. Yuuri has to support his best friend through his first soulmate problem, and Yuri gets to deal with some middle school drama.
> 
> Timeline: September 2014

The Junior Grand Prix took a week off, and that week, Georgi and Mila had their first Challenger Series event, the Lombardia Cup. Yuri briefly considered going, but then he saw that JJ was competing and decided against it. He’d stay with the university-bound duo instead.

Yuuri’s teaching was going better than he’d expected. Only a few of the freshmen questioned why they had some Japanese dude teaching them to translate between Russian and Italian. Yuuri ignored the xenophobia in the comment when he answered the kids, telling them “Because I speak both languages better than you do and I sat in that seat you’re in now to learn how to do it and now you’re going to learn too.”

At home, though, Viktor and Yuri got to hear all about the idiots. “I’m better at translating between Russian to Italian than I am at translating Japanese and Italian, because I do that all the time! Russian’s not my native language, but I am going to school that is taught entirely in Russian and earning high grades, I’ve been living in Russia since I was fourteen, and these cocky bastards think I don’t speak the language well enough to teach them in it?”

“If you want anyone’s ass kicked, just let me and Mila know,” Yuri promised. “We’ve got your back.”

Yuuri smiled and ruffled Yuri’s hair, earning an eyeroll and a swat at his arm. “I know. Have you thought about what you want to do about university?”

“Depends on how long Yakov keeps coaching. If he’s ready to quit in five years, I might go train overseas and put off university until I’m done skating. I’m not expecting that, he sounded like he was pretty sure he’d finish out Mila’s career at least, but you never know. If I stay, I don’t know. Haven’t really thought about what I’d want to study. Some kind of ecology or wildlife thing might be cool.”

 

Georgi and Mila both returned from Italy in triumph, Georgi with gold over Michele’s silver and Christophe’s bronze, and Mila with bronze behind Sara’s gold and Emily’s silver. Her main triumph came from having taken the bronze from Raisa, who finished fourth. JJ had finished sixth, much to Yuri’s disgust.

The next weekend was the Nebelhorn for the Challenger Cup and the next qualifier for the Junior Grand Prix. There were friends in both – Otabek and Richard in Tallinn, and Bin, Phichit, Seung Gil, Iona, and Skye in Obsterdorf.

Yuuri got a call the night before the men’s short program in Obsterdorf. “How do you compete against your soulmate?”

Yuuri groaned. “Phichit. How many times have I answered this in interviews? On the ice, Viktor’s just one more competitor between me and gold, one I like seeing on the podium with me and don’t mind losing to, but still, he’s a competitor. Besides, you competed against him in Salt Lake City, how is this different?”

“I medaled, he was seventh, it’s kind of been awkward since,” Phichit said. “I know no one likes to lose, but I didn’t think it would bother Seung Gil like this.”

“If you had known, would you have done anything differently?”

“Not on the ice, I’m not going to hold back here, but… there has to be something I can do off the ice to make this better, doesn’t there? Like, I don’t know… is it really that easy for you and Viktor? ‘Oh well we’re both good so it’s all good’?”

Yuuri sighed. “It really is that easy for me and Viktor. I’m sorry. I don’t know what to tell you, Phichit. I’m sure you’ve already tried talking to him about it.”

“Yeah. Thanks anyway. I’ll try again tonight, otherwise sharing the room is going to be _really_ awkward.”

“Sharing the room?”

“Neither of us is fourteen and we’ve been friends for years and I didn’t say we were sharing a bed, so don’t go judging,” Phichit teased. “We figured sharing a room would be a good way to help us start working out how to be soulmates, but at least for now, sex waits until after the competition.”

“Probably a good plan. Good luck!”

 

After the short program in Tallinn, Saviliy was in first, with Otabek only two points behind, and Richard a distant third. Things looked good for Otabek to get silver, and Richard could hold on to earn his first junior medal if he skated cleanly. It was a good day for Yuri until he got the text from Richard.

**_Your friend’s kind of a jerk. I tried to talk to him and he just completely blew me off._ **

**Beka’s not a jerk. Blunt, sure, but you put up with me.**   
**I’ll talk to him.**

He didn’t have long to wait, either, as his phone rang. Otabek calling to talk. “I can win this one, Yura. If I get gold here, that should get me to the Finals.”

“Yeah. You think you can beat Saviliy? He does a quad…”

“I can do it. I’m going to do it.”

Yuri couldn't help grinning at Otabek's confidence. If that translated to the ice, Yuri had no doubt his best friend would win this. “Can’t wait to see it. Were you a jerk to Richard?”

“Who?”

“Richard DuBois? French skater, currently in third?” Having to explain to Otabek who one of his competitors was did not strike Yuri as a promising start to this conversation.

“Not intentionally. I was me. I stretched, and I sat in my corner with my headphones on and basically ignored everything around me. Unless you’re there, that’s what I always do at competitions. There was some annoying twit trying to bug me. Must have been Richard. Sorry if I hurt his feelings, but isn’t headphones on and ignoring everyone a universal sign for leave me alone?”

Pretty much what Yuri had thought, but then again… “You talked to me.”

“That’s different. You asked me to come hang out after I let you know your dad was looking for you and then I pretty much ignored everyone in the room to do my own thing anyway. We didn’t really start talking until camp, and then we were friends. Besides, you’re a focused guy yourself before a competition. I don’t know Richard and this competition’s too important to me to deal with hurt feelings.”

“Why? I know, if you win you go to Finals, but…”

“If I go to Finals, my skating federation’s going to send me to Four Continents. We only have one other men’s singles skater old enough, and he just barely meets the minimum TES. They just want me to show them how well I can handle a big stage.”

“That’s awesome! What about Worlds?”

“Kazakhstan doesn’t have a slot and I can’t compete at the Nebelhorn to earn one because I’m here. I’m still going to Junior Worlds even if I get to go to Four Continents, don’t worry.”

“I wasn’t worried," Yuri lied. "I’m hoping like hell you get to go! Four Continents, Junior Worlds, and Worlds might be a bit much, but if you’re not doing Worlds, why wouldn’t you go to Junior Worlds?”

“Good. Okay. Tomorrow I’m going to need to focus before I compete, but afterwards, I’ll try to be nice to your friend if he still wants to talk to me. Deal?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

 

Otabek’s confidence paid off – although the surprise quad toe loop helped. Saviliy took second, and Richard held on for third. At the Nebelhorn, Bin won, with Rykov taking silver. Seung Gil was fourth, behind Kaleb, and Phichit fifth. For the ladies’, Skye won, with Iona and Kei taking silver and bronze.

Phichit called Yuuri later. “Seung Gil is a bloody idiot.”

“Uh-oh. What did Seung Gil do? Are things less awkward now?”

“We talked last night, and he was being awkward and weird because he didn’t feel like he was good enough to be my soulmate.”

“Because of a skating competition?” It seemed like a bit of an overreaction to Yuuri, but then again, who was he to talk?

“That was more of a… he’s not used to the press attention. After he did so badly in Salt Lake City, some asshat wrote a story about how in the world Seung Gil of all people ended up as my soulmate, and some of the things they said were echoes of what people said to him when he was a kid. I laughed the story off because anything else would just fan the flames, but I didn’t think to really talk to Seung Gil about it and let him know that I thought the article was ridiculous and I’m happy with him. Then he got upset because I jumped to the conclusion that he was having trouble with losing to me.”

“Phichit. Listen very carefully, because this lesson was one of the hardest for me and Viktor to learn: communication is the most important thing in your relationship. Don’t assume what he’s thinking, ask him.”

“Yeah, I know, I promise I know that. It’s just harder to do than it is to tell someone else they need to do. I’ll do better from now on.”

“Also probably not a good idea to call him a bloody idiot when he’s being insecure because of some traumatic bullying issues. Even just venting to me. Okay?”

“Okay. Can I call the people who treated him that way idiots?”

“No. Don’t insult idiots.” Phichit’s laughter was well worth the bad joke.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Competitions continue! The field is set for the Junior Grand Prix Finals, and Yuri contemplates the murder of his father.
> 
> Timeline: October 2014

Christophe, Georgi, Sara, and Mila were back in action the next week in Bratislava, while the Junior Grand Prix featured a battle between Leo and Guang Hong for a second gold. “Next August cannot come soon enough,” Phichit complained to Yuuri while they talked while watching the short program.

“Why’s that?” It wasn't a birthday, there wasn't a competition, no new King and the Skater movie expected...

“Because until then I’m going to get to listen to Leo yell at me about the cute boy he can’t ask out and Guang Hong yell at me about the cute boy he can’t ask out. I hope they’re soulmates, but even if they’re not, Leo will know who his is and Guang Hong will know to move on. They’re driving me crazy.”

“Phichit!”

“What? I’m not shipping, I’m just saying they are driving me insane with their crushes on each other that they can’t do anything about other than yell at me about! I hope they're soulmates because no matter what they say, it's obvious that they do, and I want my friends to be happy!”

Oh. Yes. That was fair enough, then. “How are they handling competing against each other?”

“They’re okay. Guang Hong’s convinced Leo’s going to win, but it doesn’t matter that much, silver’s good enough for either of them to go to the Finals. Leo’s convinced he’s going to win, too, but he says if he loses to Guang Hong he’ll be happy about it.”

Leo won, with Guang Hong second, putting them both in the Finals with Yuri and Otabek. Mila’s second competition was less successful for her, as she finished fifth, behind Raisa. Sara took bronze, which just made it even more disappointing for Mila. Georgi ended up with bronze, behind Kamil’s gold and Christophe’s silver.

 

In the last week of the Junior Grand Prix qualifiers, Emil took gold putting him in the Finals, and Saviliy was confirmed as the sixth finalist with Kenjirou as first alternate. Yuri was happy with his competition – he’d already beaten Saviliy and Otabek, and he was looking forward to the chance at showing the world how things had changed since Emil and Yuri last competed in novices. The only problem Yuri had with this group was that they were going to get labeled the Junior Saccharine Six.

Meanwhile, in Finland, Yuuko and Bin were competing again in the Challenger Series. Japan got a medals sweep in the ladies’, with Yuuko gold, Kei silver, and Iona bronze. Bin took another gold, with Michele silver and Rykov bronze.

Back home, Misha showed up at the rink on the 12th of October. “Before you leave for Skate America, or Yuri, in your case, Minsk, you have to come visit us. You guys need to meet Lizka.”

Viktor came flying off the ice to hug Misha. “A girl! Congratulations! When was she born?”

“Yesterday evening. She and Emya are coming home tomorrow.”

 

Yuri and Lilia left for Minsk and the Ice Star Cup while Yakov took Georgi and Mila to Canada for their final Challenger Series event. Afterward, Georgi would come home, while Mila and Yakov would go straight from there to Chicago for Skate America. Mila was very excited about her second bronze, feeling that it was a good sign for Skate America. Yuri was not pleased about the men’s podium – Georgi’s gold was great, he wasn’t complaining about that, and Jude’s silver was fine. JJ’s bronze, though, had Yuri fuming. “Paul should have won bronze.”

“Possibly, but JJ is a very good skater and it looked close to me,” Lilia said. “I know you don’t like JJ, but dismissing your future competition because of that can only hurt you. Besides, I suspect Cécile and Julien would disagree with you.”

Cécile nodded. “JJ’s base value was lower, but he made fewer mistakes. His PCS was a little high, maybe, but it’s in Canada.”

Dariya shrugged. “I think Paul should have gotten it, but I don’t feel like he got robbed by JJ. You’ll all survive.”

 

In the morning, Yuri got up early and headed over to the rink. The novice girls were skating first, and he could come home and take a nap through the five million ice dance competitions. Cécile finished in first, Dariya fourth. Julien finished in second for the boys, behind Klaus, but not by much.

Junior men skated late, starting at 8:45 pm. Yuri didn’t recognize any of them, although he’d probably skated against at least some of them before. The best scores were in the 50s, so Yuri didn’t think too hard about warming up. Then he heard a throat clearing behind him. “Yuri Plisetsky!”

Yuri jumped. He had not expected to hear that voice. “Yakov?”

“I did not send Mila to Chicago on her own and get on a plane from Canada to here to coach you only to watch you hurt yourself because you’re half-assing your warmups!” Yakov crossed his arms and glared. “Where’s Lilia?”

“Talking to hotel security about an Angel problem. One of them tried to break into my hotel room. Dunno why.”

Yakov went even purpler. “Get warmed up properly.” He pulled out his cell phone to call Lilia. Yuri ignored the conversation to focus on what he was doing.

His skate went fine. No falls, no botched landings or spins. 70 was fifteen points higher than his nearest competitor, so Yuri was happy with it, although his performance score was a little lower than usual. They didn’t wait for the three skaters who were after Yuri before going back to the hotel. Lilia met them at the entrance and led them to the back room, where a hotel employee sat at a table with three bouquets of roses wrapped in plastic. “We’ve just finished. She said she didn’t mean any harm, and hotel security is planning to let her off with a warning and being sent home.”

“What was she doing?” Yakov asked.

“Her primary goal was to leave these for Yuri.” Lilia pointed to the flowers. “The red ones are for Dariya or Cécile, whichever one is your girlfriend, the pink ones are for the other girl, and the yellow ones are for Julien.”

“Fucking Lev,” Yuri shouted. “Seriously?!”

“He couldn’t come himself, so he found an Angel and paid her to do it.” Lilia’s lips curled into a small smile. “It would seem that Lev is banned from this hotel for inappropriate conduct toward a teenage employee.”

“Fucking _Lev_.” Yuri stared at the flowers. “What do we do with them?”

“One of the hotel employees asked if he could take them home when he heard that you had no intention of giving them to your friends. He has a husband and two daughters who would love them.”

“Works for me.” Yuri scowled at the flowers. “Why is he so determined to creep me out anyway?”

“I don’t know. We’ve gotten your room changed under a fake name. Hopefully this will be the end of it.” Lilia hugged Yuri. “Sleep well. Lev doesn’t know where your room is.”

 

Yuri didn’t skate the next day. He avoided the rink entirely, not even leaving his hotel room, even to watch his friends. Cécile, Dariya, and Julien came over after they were finished skating to show off their medals – gold for Cécile, silver for Julien and Dariya. “Is it true? Your dad paid someone to break into your room to steal stuff and leave you threatening messages?” Julien asked.

“Uh… not exactly.” Yuri explained about the gifts Lev had been getting to him. “It’s creepy and it’s weird and I would really rather you three get left out of whatever the hell Lev thinks he’s doing.”

“Agreed,” Dariya said with a shudder.

Yuri had to skate early the next morning, and despite his poor night of sleep, he did fine. Once again, no falls or major mistakes, although he got a little tired toward the end and his spins got sloppy. Yakov told him off for it, but his heart wasn’t in it. 139 still gave Yuri a 40 point victory. Yakov put a hand on Yuri’s shoulder. “I have to get to Chicago and Mila. If you want, you can skip the exhibition and you and Lilia can go back home now.”

Yuri considered it, but shook his head. “I don’t want to start making decisions because I’m scared of Lev. He can’t get into the hotel, they’re watching for Angels, I’ll be fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was all ready to post when I doublechecked some things, and it's a good thing I did, because I'd forgotten two very important things. Going back and adding Yelisaveta's birth announcement wasn't that big a deal, but going back and adding Yuri's ENTIRE COMPETITION...
> 
> On the plus side, I have the first bit of tomorrow's chapter written already!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skate America and DRAMA!
> 
> Timeline: October 24-26, 2014

Viktor felt a little behind as he got off the plane in Chicago. Everyone else in the competition had already competed once this season. It wasn’t really that different from going late in the Grand Prix, but it still felt weird. Yuuri squeezed his hand. “You’ll do fine. I promise.”

“I know, it’s just a little weird. At least I’m well ahead of where I would have been in school if I’d tried to do some Challenger Series events!”

“If there had been any in August, I might have signed up for that one just for the low-pressure practice run, but oh well. There’s next year,” Yuuri said.

“Of course, next year, we’ll be a little distracted,” Viktor teased.

“True! Mari will kill us if we don’t enter competitions for anything less than our kid is being born any day now, but it will definitely be a distraction.”

 

Phichit came running over to glomp Yuuri as soon as they got to the hotel. “I missed you! Let’s have some fun, right?”

“Of course! There’s a ton of us here, any ideas where to go?” Chicago wasn’t far from Detroit – Phichit would probably know what the cool stuff was.

“We’re in Chicago. After we’re done competing, we are going to get pizza. Our coaches are going to be scandalized. Especially mine!”

Yuuri stared at his best friend. “Phichit, are you trying to get us all killed?”

“No, we’ll only eat one or two pieces each, but we are going to get some real Chicago pizza. Jake told me it’s a rule.”

“Jake?”

“Stafford? One of the best pairs skaters out there? He’s not exactly a rinkmate, but he and Caylee spent some time at our rink this summer, and they’re pretty cool. He’s from Chicago and he says he knows exactly where to go to get the absolute best Chicago pizza you can imagine.”

Huh. Yuuri really shouldn't be surprised about Phichit having a new friend. “Okay, but I meant more tomorrow.”

“Jake’s thrown out a few ideas. Wrigley Field’s a legendary baseball stadium, Viktor might be interested because it’s so old. There’s always the zoo. You’d love the Museum of Science and Industry, and I bet Yuri would love to get pictures of Sue.”

“Su? He’s not even here? Why would Yuri want pictures of him anyway? I can’t imagine he cares that much about him…”

Phichit blinked a couple times and then burst into laughter. “No, not Liao Su! Sue’s not a person, she’s the largest and best preserved T-rex skeleton in the world!”

“Oh!” Yuuri started laughing, too. “Yeah, that I’ll agree with. Yuri would love that.”

 

On their practice day, they ended up going to the Field Museum to see Sue. There were a lot of other cool things there, too, including an exhibit that showed what the soil would look like if humans were 1/100th of their size. Phichit took a selfie with Yuuri and a giant wolf spider and tagged Yuri on Instagram – “Found a solution to your lion problem!” At the gift shop, Yuuri had intended to stock up on cat plushes to throw at competitions, but then he found a metal spider kit that Yuri could put together and have a cool guardian for his hotel rooms.

Ice dance went first the next day. None of their friends were competing, but Masumi had come with Chris and he wanted to see what his competitors were doing. Men skated after ice dance. Kamil had the lead after the first group, but his score was low, not even 80. Seung Gil kicked off the second group well, not quite passing Kamil but at least getting respectably close. Jude became the first skater to break 80, but the bar for Viktor was still incredibly low. Chris still hadn’t skated, Kaleb was capable of great things, and it was always possible that Phichit could pull something out to surprise everyone, but really, Viktor was only worried about Chris at this point.

His short program music had nearly given Yakov a heart attack – lots of drums and electric distortion and screaming. Lilia enjoyed the music, but suspected that Viktor might have trouble with old-fashioned judges who didn’t approve. Viktor didn’t care. He wasn’t skating for the judges this year, he was skating for himself and the fans. His costume and skating were meant to evoke a soul being tortured in Hell, and Yakov had to admit the music certainly fit that theme. His jumps were fine, but Viktor lost his balance switching from a sit position up to a camel in his combination spin, putting a hand to the ice to recover. Yakov did not let him off easily for that one, but a 95 was still a great score.

Chris promptly made it a narrow margin, earning a 93. Then Kaleb struggled, dropping way down the standings, only finishing higher than three other skaters. Phichit at least looked good, finishing the day strong.

“Why demons?” was the first question shouted at Viktor when he got out.

Viktor just grinned. “Why not? Yuri did angels a couple years back, and no one expected that, did they? You know how I love to surprise everyone!”

“What’s Yakov think of your music?”

“He thinks that it’s awful, but after the fights we had over programs last year, he wasn’t going to try this year. And sure, I didn’t break 100 today, but I think the potential’s there to get up there this year too, so I’m not worried!” He winked at the cameras. “Lilia loved it.”

“Yuuri, what can we expect to see from you when you finally skate?”

Yuuri took Viktor’s hand. “I think it’s safe to say I’ll be doing a triple axel. Probably some spins.”

“I meant…”

Yuuri shook his head and gave Viktor a sad face. “Why do they keep asking questions like that when they know they’ll never get a straight answer out of us?”

“I don’t know, love. I keep hoping they’ll learn…”

 

The next day started with pairs, which Viktor chose to take as a chance to sleep in. They made it to the rink in time to watch Mila in the ladies’ skate, of course. Alena had the lead when Viktor settled in at the end of group 1, but her score was not exactly going to be difficult for the top skaters to beat. Skye beat it easily, and then Sara beat Skye. Mila did well, not beating either of the two leaders, but getting close, and then Cathy struggled with her layback spin and ended up below Mila.

Ice dance went as expected, with the French team winning. Kaleb recovered a little in the free skate, but still was likely to finish in the bottom half of the standings. Phichit and Seung Gil both did well, and Kamil was able to pass Jude to guarantee himself a medal. Chris came out strong, with a 175, but Viktor was confident he could beat that easily.

This skate was a bit more metaphorical, using much more traditional skating music. It was a take on Faust, Viktor selling his soul for figure skating glory, only to be dragged off to Hell at the end of a brilliant career. He started out well, a big quad flip combo right off the bat, and kept skating. He stumbled a bit on a triple axel, but recovered quickly and didn’t let it mess up any of the rest of the program. It wasn’t going to get him to the 200 Yakov had told him to aim for this season, but it was early. 183 was still a ten-point win, and a good foundation. By Worlds, he had a good chance.

“Are you trying to tell us something, Viktor?”

Viktor looked at Yuuri, who shrugged. “Like what?”

“Like you sold your soul for a brilliant skating career, and when you retire…”

Viktor put a hand over his mouth until he could be sure the laughter wouldn’t get out. “It is a skating program. I would never sell my soul, my soul is what connects me to Yuuri, and without Yuuri my life would be so empty.”

“Speaking of soulmates, do you have a comment on your rinkmate’s fight with the Crispinos?”

Viktor and Yuuri looked at each other. Yuuri shook his head slightly. Viktor looked the reporter in the eye. “I do not. I was not aware of the fight. I also don’t know what that has to do with soulmates.” He took Yuuri’s hand and walked off.

They found Mila back at the hotel, sitting with Cathy and wiping away tears. “Mila? Do I have to go have a word with some people?”

Mila shook her head. “Michele’s an ass. I know he’s your friend, Yuuri, but for some reason he’s decided to freak out about me talking to Sara, and Sara won’t talk to me. They won’t even tell me why I’m not allowed to talk to her anymore. Everything was normal when we competed against each other before…”

“That’s very weird and I’m sorry to hear that.” Viktor hugged Mila. “You’re right about Michele. He’s an ass when it comes to Sara.”

 

In the ladies’ free skate, Cathy recovered well from her poor free skate. Mila came in behind her, and Skye stole the show with a brilliant performance. Then Sara crashed. It was enough to drop her to fourth, giving Mila bronze, Cathy silver, and Skye gold. 

Viktor hugged Mila after the victory ceremony. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m… I’m worried about Sara. That’s not like her.”

Viktor looked over Mila’s shoulder. “She’s headed this way.”

Mila turned around as Sara got to them. “What do you want?”

“I want to talk to you. Explain why I’ve been so weird here.”

“Good. This better be a good explanation, but…”

“I’ve been trying to tell you something every time we competed, but I didn’t want to do it before we were done skating, and then I kept chickening out afterward. Mickey noticed how nervous I was about this competition, and I made the mistake of telling him. That’s why he’s been so horrible to you, and I couldn’t do anything about it because you’d make me tell you everything, and I’m so sorry, Mila. I shouldn’t be afraid to do this, but I’m nervous as hell.”

Mila looked at Viktor, who shrugged. “What are you trying to do?”

“You’re my soulmate.” The words came out in badly-accented Russian. Sara switched back to English to continue. “Please don’t be mad at me for being so nervous I chickened out before. No matter what you do, this is a huge deal.”

Mila blinked. “Soulmate? Really?”

“Soulmate. Really.” Sara smiled. “I wouldn’t subject someone I liked to Mickey’s overprotectiveness without a very good reason.”

Mila squealed and tackled Sara with a very enthusiastic hug. Viktor caught Michele by the arm as he came storming over. “Let’s give them some privacy, hmm? I promise you, Mila will not hurt Sara. Ever.” He ignored Michele’s protests as he continued to walk away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Yuri's new hotel room guardian.](http://store.fieldmuseum.org/product/Tarantula_3D_Metal_Model_Kit?1527797882661)


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cup of China, along with a couple background competitions. Hello ridiculous rumor!

Mila spent the next week bouncing and chatting with Sara every chance she could get. She was not worried about Michele at all. “I’ve been training for years to be able to kick my soulmate’s ass if they turned out to be a dick. I can take Michele if I have to.”

Michele, thankfully, was busy with Skate Canada, where he took silver. Paul got the gold, and Sachio bronze, with JJ fourth. For the ladies’, Iona and Kei took gold and silver, with Cassie sneaking in above Sako and Raisa for bronze. Anya and Christov came back with gold in ice dance, which had Georgi eager to celebrate. Anya and Christov didn’t come back to Saint Petersburg, though; they were competing in the Challenger Series event the next weekend, along with several other friends, including Phichit. Anya and Christov came in third, behind a French team and an American team. Skye won the ladies’ over Iona and Sako, and Sachio took the men’s gold, with Michele silver and Phichit bronze.

Meanwhile, Yuuri had the Cup of China. This was going to be his first competition of the year, and the people he was up against had done several. Christophe and Bin, his main competition, had five medals between them already. Rykov had two himself, and Su’s performance in the Challenger Series had been rather disappointing so far. It didn’t help that Viktor wasn’t coming because he was competing the next week.

Viktor hugged Yuuri at the airport as they said goodbye, pulling him in close. “Remember what you told me. It just means you’re fresh, while they’re all tired. Su might be out for redemption, but you can skate better than him and you know it. You’ll do fine.”

“I know. I just need to believe in myself and skate like I do when there’s no pressure. I can do that. Just keep reminding me when I forget?”

“Always.”

 

With Yuuko competing, it wasn’t a surprise at all to see the triplets. It was a bit of a surprise to see Mari holding Jiahao. “Can’t believe he’s a year old, can you?” Mari said.

“Wow, really? That’s amazing!” Yuuri reached out and patted Jiahao’s head, earning a smile from the baby. “He’s so cute!”

Most of the folks there had been to Shanghai before, so free time was shopping time. It was a great time for everyone, shopping for themselves, various children of friends and family, and the many pets to spoil. Yuuri’s eyebrows shot up when he saw Chris looking at baby clothes. “Are you thinking about having a kid?”

“Not exactly. Jolie and Masumi are starting to think about retiring, and Jolie wants kids but Otto can’t make them. Masumi and I are the logical choices to help them get around that. I don’t think I’d be a good dad, but I can totally do the cool uncle thing.”

“I think you’d be a good dad if you gave it a chance. It’s Masumi I’m worried about.”

Chris grinned. “Maybe so. He’s pretty sure he doesn’t want to be a dad, and parents who don’t want the job tend to be less good at it.”

 

Jolanda and Masumi finished the short dance in second, behind a French pair. Yuuko was the first to skate in the second group for the ladies. The current leader was a Chinese skater making her senior debut, but her score was low enough that Yuuko shouldn’t have trouble beating it. Yuuko, skating to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, had no trouble with it, beating Ling’s score by ten points. Saila and Emily got close, but Yuuko had the lead going into the free skate.

Up first for the men was Lukas, Phichit’s friend, who did well but not well enough considering who he was up against. Masaki had a somewhat poor performance, which he was clearly upset by. Chris kicked off the second group by getting an 85. Yuuri could beat that, but he’d have to skate well. Rykov got a 79, and Bin 82. It would be an interesting competition for medals.

Yuuri’s short program costume was somewhat cowboy-looking, although he wasn’t wearing chaps or a hat. His first jump, a quad toe loop, nearly got away from him, but he managed to save it, and then he had the step sequence to get his brain back on track. His other jumps went well, and he could be proud of his skate as he headed for Yakov.

When his score popped up, Yakov made a noise of disapproval. “I think that performance score’s a little low. Not that it matters, but I was thinking you’d be a little higher.”

Yuuri glanced down at himself. “Could be we ran into the conservative judging panel right away. We knew that was a risk. Better here than at the Finals or Worlds where I’ll need every point to beat Viktor.”

Neither Su nor Seung Gil got close to Yuuri, although they weren’t that far from Rykov. Yuuri chose to stay and watch the pairs skaters, since Yuri’s stepbrother was competing. Once Salomat and Stas were finished, he left to find the press.

“You got a 95, and yet, Yakov didn’t look happy with your score. Why was that?” Morooka asked.

“Well, he wasn’t happy with that quad toe loop, of course, but he was expecting my performance score to be higher. Obviously, the judges disagreed, and there’s a reason no one lets coaches assign their skater’s scores. I’ll just have to do better next time, that’s all.”

“Do you think your choice of music had anything to do with it?”

Yuuri shrugged. “It’s possible. It’s also possible that the judges thought my choreography could have been better, or that my transitions needed improvement. Yakov and I will look at the breakdown and see what I can take away from it to improve myself.”

“Your sister is here with her son. Do you think she’s having second thoughts about your plan to have a baby next fall?”

“No, I think that Mari came to support Bin, who’s a good friend of hers, and Yuuko and me. Since she would be here, Bin brought Jiahao with him to see Mari. It has nothing to do with future baby plans.”

“So there’s no truth to the rumor that you or Mari called off the plan when Viktor insisted on doing things the old-fashioned way, without assistive technology?”

“No. There is no truth to that rumor.” Yuuri did his best to shake off the lovely mental images that rumor was now planting in his brain.

Viktor found the rumor hilarious. “Where on earth would they get the idea I would want that, I wonder? If it were you and Sasha, I could maybe see it, but I’m the one who makes a huge deal out of soulmates, why would anyone think there was any reason good enough to get me to want anyone but you?”

“You think I want someone other than you?”

“No, I’m just saying that you’re a lot quieter about it so the rumor would make more sense about you and anyone but Mari who we were asking to surrogate for us. This is like a rumor going around that Yurio hates tigers. Mila loves them too, but you'd be more inclined to believe it if you heard a rumor that she hated them.” Yuuri felt much better after that.

 

Jolanda and Masumi made up the difference between them and the French team and then some, claiming the gold medal in ice dance. Ling took everyone by surprise by taking the ladies’ bronze, with Emily taking silver and Yuuko gold. Masaki had a better day, but not enough to move up much. Su’s day was even worse than the day before, and he finished behind Seung Gil and Rykov. Bin did very well, and Chris couldn’t quite match him. Assuming Yuuri didn’t fall to pieces, Bin would have silver, Chris bronze.

Yuuri started well with a huge triple axel-half loop-triple salchow combo. His dancing was appropriately dramatic for Phantom of the Opera, and the crowd was really into the program. Yuuri kept himself focused, and everything went well, until his last jump – another quad toe loop. This time he couldn’t save it, and he fell. At least the program was over and all he had to do was get to his final pose.

Yakov tore him to shreds over the fall, and deservedly so, but the 185 did a lot to help that. It certainly sent the message that it would once again be Yuuri and Viktor duking it out for the two big golds. Once again, Yuuri stayed long enough to watch Salomat and Stas, which meant he ended up staying through the medal ceremony as they earned bronze.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Yuuri's free skate costume. Since Yuzu doesn't exist in this 'verse.](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b8/68/d4/b868d4278d70431b130bbcaa1b60355c.jpg)


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rostelecom Cup, silly conspiricy theories, and Otabek shows Yuri his new toy.
> 
> Timeline: mid-November 2014
> 
> Warning for mentioned racism.

The day before leaving for Moscow, Yuri got a picture from Otabek captioned “best birthday yet.” Yuri hadn’t seen that leather jacket before, and it looked new, but what he was probably supposed to be noticing was the shiny motorcycle Otabek was sitting on. He called. “Finally got it? What took so long, you’ve been sixteen for two weeks!”

“Well, for one thing, Selim couldn’t get out here until yesterday because of work, and since he was the one paying for it that kind of made it hard to get. Just as well, since I failed the driving test the first time around.”

“Huh? From what I’ve heard, you’re a good driver, and I’m hearing that from Cécile too so I know it’s not just you trying to look good. I don’t think you even have nerves to get to you, so what the fuck?”

“That’s what I thought. I wasn’t perfect, but they don’t expect perfection, and until the instructor told me I’d failed I thought I’d done fine.” Otabek scoffed. “I went back a week later to retake it, and they took my picture and fingerprints and handed me my temporary license. Turns out, the instructor had gotten a lot of complaints about being a racist bitch, so they had someone following us taking video. After reviewing the video, they found a lot of bullshit deductions in her report, and now she’s fired.”

“Nice. Happy birthday, dude. Was that a new jacket?”

“Yeah, Nathalie said that if I’m going to insist on riding a death machine I needed protective gear. At least, that’s what she says, but given that she also gave me matching pants, I don’t quite believe it’s all about the protection. Anyway, the pants didn’t fit in a way Nathalie was letting me out of the house in, so that’s why I didn’t have those on. She’s going to exchange them for the right size and I’ll send you another picture with those and my helmet.”

“What was wrong with the pants?”

“I could get them on and zipped up, but one step too big and I’d be bursting out of them Hulk-style. It’s just as well, I’d never have worn them, it was _really_ uncomfortable.”

“Oh.” Now Yuri could imagine it, and it made him feel a little weird. “Are you sure you can’t smuggle the motorcycle to Barcelona? That would be cool, riding around Barcelona in our down time.”

Otabek chuckled. “Yeah, it would. Can’t even rent a bike there, Canada won’t issue an international motorcycle license until 18.”

 

Mila disappeared as soon as they arrived in Moscow, as did Yuri. Phichit asked about it. “Well, Yuri’s off to see his grandfather and avoid JJ,” Viktor explained. “Mila… we’re probably not going to see much of her or Sara this trip.”

“Oh, right! They didn’t exactly have much time together at Skate America, and, well. I am so happy I had my dream in the offseason and could make contact right away. Even with spending two weeks together, I think my rinkmates were getting sick of hearing about Seung Gil when I got back!”

“Should we be doing anything to protect Mila?” Jude asked.

“Mila can take care of herself, and I really don’t think Sara would try…” Yuuri said.

Jude waved a hand, cutting him off. “I meant from Michele! I know Mila could probably handle him just fine, but that’s time she’s not getting to cuddle or whatever with Sara.”

Phichit shook his head. “Not necessary. Michele’s not even here. I don’t know what happened between Sara and Michele or what he’s doing, but he went to Ostrava instead.” He held out his phone to a selfie of Michele in Ostrava, with a caption “Wish me luck!”

“Keep digging, you’ll find something, I’m sure.” Yuuri looked around. “Any idea where JJ is?”

“He’s not here yet. There were some pretty nasty storms building up, Ciao Ciao and I got out but it was worse off to the east. Why, do you actually want to see him?”

“Nah. Just figured he’d be looking for you, since you’re his ex-rinkmate, and Yuri, because Yuri’s friends with his brother and sister, and since he’s not here I just wanted to know if we needed to warn Yuri.”

 

JJ was at practice the next morning, but he looked exhausted. “We finally made it here about 4 in the morning. I think my plan for the rest of the day involves a nice long nap.”

While he was taking off his skates, Phichit’s phone sounded an alert. He let out a squeal, attracting everyone’s attention. “So get this – Michele went to Ostrava to contact his soulmate!”

“What?” Viktor came over to peek at the phone. “Oh, wow! Emil Nekola!”

Gabriel, an Israeli skater new to seniors this year, snapped his head up. “Really? That would explain why Emil started going a little nuts about two years ago, when Michele started reaching out to him on social media.”

“Still wondering why he’s not here, but maybe Sara convinced him that he didn’t want Mila to kick his ass,” Phichit said. “Still, kinda sweet!”

 

Ladies skated first. Mila and Sara had both drawn into the second group. When Sara skated, Raisa was in the lead, ahead of Cassie and Alena. Sara skated very well, making up for her bad skate in America. Mila, on the other hand, struggled, falling on an attempt at a triple axel that didn’t get the rotations in. After Iona’s skate, which put her in second, Mila finished the day in fifth.

Angelina and Timofey easily won the short program for pairs, with the Japanese team finishing a surprising second. Men were up next. None of the first group did anything unusually good, so it wasn’t until Jude that a score over 80 was posted. JJ very nearly caught him, just barely missing 80, and Georgi celebrated with Yakov when his score popped up – over 90.

Viktor started well, landing a triple axel with ease, but then he fell on his quad Lutz. It had been a while since he’d fallen in a competition, but he managed to brush it off and finish strong. The combo spin he’d been drilling after messing it up in America went exceptionally well, and Viktor wasn’t the least bit surprised with his 93. Still a lead over Georgi, but not by as much as he’d have liked. Phichit did well, coming in fifth for the day, which he was pleased with.

Viktor chose not to stay to watch the ice dance, even though Anya and Christov were competing. Instead, he went out to talk to the media.

“What happened, Viktor?”

“I fell! It happens to all of us. Usually in practice, but sometimes, unfortunately, in competition. At least I wasn’t hurt!” Viktor smiled as Yuuri inched closer to him, squeezing his hand. “It’s part of being a skater.”

“So this doesn’t mean that with Misha gone you’re losing your drive, and will be retiring in the next couple years?”

“I miss Misha, yes, but there are so many great skaters still out there – especially this one right here holding my hand!” Viktor dropped a kiss on Yuuri’s temple. “I don’t know when I’ll retire, but it won’t be in the next couple years unless something terrible happens.”

“Like what?”

“Like, for instance, a serious injury at this stage of my career. Or, god forbid, the child that Yuuri and I plan to have next year requires more care than a typical newborn. It wasn’t like this for Misha, but I know some skaters just wake up one day and know that they don’t have another season in them and choose to walk away from the sport. I plan to skate at least through the Pyeongchang Olympics, but there’s no guarantee that I’ll make it.”

“So the plan to have a child is still on?”

“It is! In fact, we’ll be starting on it soon! Next year’s going to be a good one.”

 

Russia was well placed for three golds going into the free skates, with ladies’ singles being the odd one out. There, they were just hoping for a medal. Alena wasn’t going to do it, but Mila put forth a beautiful skate. She stuck to the double axel, but she did it nearly perfectly. Raisa stumbled, slipping behind Cassie and guaranteeing Mila a medal. Iona and Sara both did well, holding their spots to give Iona silver and Sara gold. The shock on Sara’s face disappeared quickly as Mila came flying out to congratulate her.

Russia took the gold in pairs, with the Japanese team managing to pull out a silver medal. Men’s started out with a somewhat spectacularly bad program from Brazilian skater Escobar, but other than that, the first group went smoothly. Phichit’s skate went well, except for a fall on his triple axel. JJ pulled out a very impressive program, one that had everyone watching closely. It was enough to push him over Jude and into the medals. Georgi’s program had a few mistakes, but he had enough of a lead from the short that he was still ahead of JJ and Jude. All it did was take the pressure off Viktor.

He had a good feeling about the program from the opening flip, and he used it to soar through the program. He fixed the mistake on the triple axel from America, and skated clean. Yakov still had a lot of nitpicks, but the only reason Viktor was disappointed with his score was that he was only a few hundredths from 190. Gold medal for yet another trip to the Finals.

“Your free skate is a deal with a demon. Are you saying something about your sister-in-law?”

Viktor stared at the reporter, trying to make sense of the question. “Mari’s only a demon to people who hurt the people she cares about. I know there’s a popular stereotype about in-laws being awful, but I could not ask for a better family-in-law than the Katsukis. They have welcomed me with open arms and made it clear that I am one of them. I would never dream of calling Mari a demon, or saying that having a child is being dragged to Hell!”

“You may change your mind about that second one when you have to deal with changing diapers. Or is that Yuuri’s job?”

Viktor gave the reporter a flat stare. “I’ve changed diapers before. Misha has kids, Yuuko’s triplets were quite the handful to keep up with and they welcomed the help when we were in Hasetsu, it’s not my favorite thing in the world but it’s certainly not Hell. Even if it were Hell, the only way that becomes Yuuri’s job alone is if Yuuri wants it that way – he changes all the diapers, I do some chore he hates enough to make it worth it.”

Anya and Christov delivered Russia’s third gold medal, meaning that Russia was very happy with this competition. Meanwhile, in Graz, Kamil took gold in the Challenger Series, with Chris taking silver. Jolanda and Masumi also got gold, as did Cathy.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Open d'Andorra, and the end of the Grand Prix Qualifiers, and Yuuri manages to surprise Viktor.

The Trophee de France brought some additional clarity to the Grand Prix picture, adding gold medalist Skye and silver medalist Cathy to the ladies’ confirmed finalists, while gold medalist Kamil and silver medalist Paul joined the mens’. For the bronze medalists, Madlene was out of the Finals, but Michele still stood a chance depending on what happened in Japan. In the Warsaw Cup, Seung Gil took his first medal of the season, bronze behind Bin and Jude. Yuuko won gold in the ladies’, with Kei silver.

 

Meanwhile, Yakov and Yuri had gone to Andorra. Yuri hadn’t even heard of the small country before Yakov mentioned the possibility of going there to skate, but the competition was thrilled to have him. Even with it meaning that junior men’s gold was pretty much a foregone conclusion, it drew attention and fans that otherwise would never have come. Most of the skaters here were from Spain and Italy, with only one Andorran skater, in Junior Ladies’.

With no pressure on him, Yuri had a good time skating to Wagner’s dramatic music. His score of 70 wasn’t quite twice anyone else’s, but a 25 point lead was still huge. The only downside to the day came when he spotted Lev in the hallway and pointed him out. “The fuck is he doing here instead of in Bordeaux?”

“Must be here to watch you,” Yakov said. “Either that or he figures the senior ladies here are less likely to know about him and might give him the time of day. I know Mila and Yuuko and their friends have started getting the word out, but that might not have filtered down to the level of the skaters here.”

“Why now? Why not before?” Lev being a giant creep who liked hitting on women half his age wasn’t exactly news.

“Now he’s stalking you. It makes it easier to believe when they say he’s a creep. Did you bring that spider Yuuri got you?”

“Of course. That thing’s cool, and it’ll creep Lev out almost as bad as he creeps me out if he breaks into my room.” Yuuri had given it the name Lion-Killer. That was wishful thinking, but if it did end up living up to its name, Lev got scared and fell and impaled himself on a leg or something… Yuri would not mind one bit. Well, maybe one bit. The bit where Lev was in his room to begin with. That, he’d mind.

“Good. Let’s get out of here before he sees you and decides to come talk.” Yuri didn’t get comfortable until he was back in his room and there were no weird gifts there and his spider was still guarding the door, though.

 

The free skate the next day started earlier, and Yuri was less happy with his score. Yakov agreed – 135 was still an amazing score for juniors, but they both agreed the PCS was extremely low. “I’m sure they just went hard on you because of how much you were already winning by, but still, for you to have a PCS under 60 is not good. Don’t say anything publicly, accept the win and the good score, and look ahead to the Junior Grand Prix Finals.”

“Yeah. No problem. Those, I’m looking forward to.” Yuri cast one last contemptuous glare at the scoreboard. “I’m not gonna complain, I could have come out and skated my novice program from last year and still had the highest score of the day, but it still pisses me off.”

Naturally, there was a horde of Angels waiting for autographs and selfies. Yuri signed and posed with reasonably good grace until an Angel handed him a picture of him wrapped in the flag of Kazakhstan. “Where did you get this?”

“It’s fanart! The artist doesn’t know what Dariya looks like, but the flag of Kazakhstan’s easy to find on the internet, so…”

Yuri bit back his first instinct – to ask why the artist hadn’t ever thought to look at Kazakhstan figure skating’s website. There were nowhere near as many pictures of her as there were of Otabek, but there were some. No sense in encouraging the shippers. “Dariya’s not my girlfriend. I don’t have a girlfriend. I don’t plan to have a girlfriend unless my soulmate’s a girl. Maybe if I don’t have a soulmate.” Yuri signed the picture, but the irritation never went away.

It got worse when he saw another fan art – this one of him skating with a Japanese girl he didn’t recognize. “Who’s that?”

“Mifune Takako, a Japanese skater new to Juniors this year but destined to be the best. You don’t know her?”

“Haven’t ever met her. Don’t really pay attention to skaters outside of men’s unless they’re someone’s friend. Why her?” He regretted it as soon as it was out of his mouth. He knew the answer. It was the same as why people had been shipping him with Togai. His soulmate was obviously going to be a Japanese champion skater because Viktor’s had been Yuuri. Sure enough, that’s what the Angel said. He just signed the picture and handed it back to her without another word.

Once free of the Angels, he got a message to Yuuri, who was equally annoyed by the new idiocy, and promised to do what he could to fight back without drawing more attention to it. He also contacted Dariya and Cécile to let them know about the new developments in the idiocy surrounding him, just in case they got ambushed by Angels with fanart. He also got word to Phichit, asking him and the Hamsters to look out for fanart that involved anyone Yuri didn’t already know about.

 

The first thing Yuuri did when he got to Japan was run to Yuuko and hug her. “Congratulations! You won the Challenger Series!”

“I know!” Yuuko accepted the hug from Viktor, too. “Even though it was kind of expected of me, especially after beating Skye back in the first event, it’s still a pretty big deal. Gosh, can you imagine next year, if we both win?”

“That would be nice. Happy birthday, too. Think you’re going to get gold again here?”

“I don’t know… it’s likely, but Emily’s had a bit more rest than me or Kei, so she might pull something out, and Kei’s younger and recovers more quickly. That’s why we skate the programs, right?” Yuuko giggled. “Viktor, are you going to Hasetsu?”

“Yes. I’m flying to Fukuoka in a couple hours, and I’ll be back tomorrow night. I won’t miss any of the competition, but you’ll keep Yuuri distracted tomorrow, won’t you?”

“Of course. Good luck!”

 

Viktor’s initial instinct had been to fly out as early in the morning as he could and fly back that same day, but Yuuri and Mari had talked him out of it. Spending the night in Hasetsu and getting a bowl of Hiroko’s katsudon made it worthwhile, and when Viktor woke up, there were several messages from Yuuri.

**_Good morning! I hope you like the pictures and the videos I sent you. I thought it might help to have some inspiration, and Phichit gave me advice on how to set things up to record._ **  
**_If it helps or you enjoy it, please let me know. Asking Phichit for help without dying of embarrassment was harder than trying to learn a quad Salchow._ **

Now intensely curious, Viktor opened one of the pictures. _Oh._ Yes, he could see why going to Phichit for advice would be awkward. He checked his watch – maybe too late in Switzerland to call Chris now, but he could email and ask for advice for how to reciprocate when they had to split up for Nationals. Then he called Yuuri. “Yuuri, you are my husband and I love you very much, but can I ask a question?”

“Uh-oh…”

“Why Phichit instead of Chris?”

Yuuri turned beet-red. “Um…”

“I only opened one to see what you’d done, I’m saving the rest for later, but it kind of seems like this is a problem Chris is likely to have quite a bit of experience with.”

“Yeah, it does, but…” Yuuri got even redder. “I was kind of on the phone with Phichit when I got the idea and wanted to ask before my nerves could stop me. I got the idea when he opened a picture Seung Gil sent him. Phichit dropped the phone and it landed to where I could see it too.”

“Ha! Remind me to thank Phichit later, because I love this. Thank you for sending them!”

Viktor certainly enjoyed the pictures and the videos, and while he probably didn’t need them, they made the whole process more enjoyable, at least. Thankfully, the center was perfectly happy to accept the physicals he had regularly for skating as good enough evidence that he didn’t have any excluding diseases, so it was just a check that he felt healthy that day and some bloodwork to verify that he didn’t have anything incubating.

 

Viktor was back in plenty of time for Yuuri to get a good night’s sleep before the short program. It was a good thing, too, as Rykov and Bin had been teasing him about Viktor’s absence the day before. Bin did have one serious question for him. “Your kid and Jiahao are going to be biologically half-siblings. What do you want to do about how they think of each other?”

“I was thinking cousins – that covers a pretty big range for how they’re expected to relate to each other. Viktor told me he met one of his cousins for the first time at our wedding, but Yuuko and Takeshi’s girls and their cousin Tameyoshi are almost like siblings. That way we can figure it out as we go along instead of trying to force something.”

“And it’s also flexible enough that if you and Viktor have more with someone else, we can still use the same word for people who don’t have any reason to get the full story,” Bin said. “That’s what I was thinking too.”

“You don’t want another one?”

Bin shook his head. “I live in China. One child rule. They’re starting to bend it in certain cases, but probably not for me. If Mari wants me to be the sperm donor for a child for her to keep, that won’t count, but me raising another one wouldn’t work.”

At the end of the first group, Su had the lead, with Rykov right behind him. They were both under 80, easily beatable, which Georgi did with an 86. Togai finished behind them, likely in the second group the next day, and Bin’s 81 put him in second.

Yuuri, skating last, started better, landing his quad toe loop easily. His step sequence and spins were great, as always, but he bobbled the landing on his quad salchow, making the triple toe loop after it shaky. His 95 was good enough for first place by quite a lot, but he was still disappointed with himself, which Yakov understood.

He’d expected the media silliness, and wasn’t disappointed. “Yuuri, Viktor abandoned you yesterday to go to Hasetsu. How did you feel about that?”

“If you’ve done your research and know why he went, you know the answer to that question. If you don’t know why he went, I’m not doing your job for you. Next question?”

“Why didn’t you go with him?”

“Because I had a competition to prepare for.”

Fortunately, Morooka was there, and Yuuri looked to him next to end the silliness. “Your friend Yuuko won the Challenger Series. Of course, participation this year was difficult for you, but do you intend to participate next year?”

“I haven’t decided yet, but from talking to my friends who participated, I think it’s likely that I will. It will depend a great deal on how things are going with Mari, but almost everyone I’ve talked to said that they enjoyed the competitions. Also, since you mention it, I’ve already told her in person, but I’d like to take this opportunity to publicly congratulate Yuuko on her accomplishment, and on her first-place standing here.” Yuuko had finished first in the ladies’ short program, with Emily second, Kei third, and Sako fourth.

 

Ice dance started the next day, and Jolanda and Masumi took the lead easily. Chris had found Viktor the day before and teased him about forgetting he’d come to Japan too, and then admitted he was still asleep anyway so it didn’t matter. In ladies’, Yuuko took her second gold, and Kei took silver from Emily, putting both of them in the Finals. Emily’s bronze meant that she just missed the finals, being first alternate behind Sara, with Mila as second alternate.

Togai beat out Gabriel to at least finish in the top half, and Rykov overtook Su for fourth. Bin and Georgi finished at 182, two hundredths apart, giving Bin bronze and Georgi silver, assuming Yuuri held on to win. Between his strong base value and his huge lead, Yuuri let go of the nerves as much as he could – he wasn’t likely to lose, and if he did, he’d likely have bigger things to deal with than having let down the home country fans and Yakov. It helped, a lot. No falls, and his steps and musicality carried him to 190, another gold, and another trip to the Finals. Georgi’s silver put him in, too. Bin found himself in a three-way tie with Michele and Christophe. Christophe won that tiebreaker, with the highest overall score, with Bin as first alternate and Michele second.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, um. I'm sorry. I know this one was a long time coming. I don't know WHAT the fuck happened, but the last three days, I wrote NOTHING. 0 words. That hasn't happened in over two years, I don't think, and I can't explain why it happened now. I don't expect it to happen again.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barcelona and Grand Prix Finals. Yaaaaaaaay!

There was one last Challenger Series skate the week before the Grand Prix Finals, the Golden Spin of Zagreb. Paul had been scheduled to skate, but he chose to withdraw to focus on the Finals. This left the door open for Rykov to take home gold, followed by Togai and Gabriel. Salomat and Stas went despite having made the Finals, and they took the gold in pairs, which earned them the third-place prize for the overall series.

Then it was off to Barcelona. Bin and Michele had both come despite being alternates, Bin so that the Hasetsu folks there to support Yuuko and Yuuri could see Jiahao and Michele to support Sara and Emil. Mila tagged along with the rest of Team Yakov, and Kenjirou came to support Yuuri and Yuuko. This year’s iteration of the Saccharine Six was huge. They easily had enough people to qualify for group discounts when they went out sight-seeing.

“Dariya didn’t come to watch you?” Yuri asked Otabek.

“Nope. One, she has school, and two, she didn’t want to fan the rumors about you and her. Selim’s coming, though. Fair warning, he wants to meet the guy who thinks he’s good enough to date his baby sister.”

Yuri groaned. “Seriously?”

“That’s what he says. I think he’s more interested in meeting the guy who gets his antisocial little brother to get out of his shell, but he has to be an idiot about it.”

“Anyone else?”

“My parents are coming. Raya’s not, she stayed home with the kids and Dariya.”

After Otabek’s warning, meeting Selim was slightly disappointing. He didn’t even try to do the scowly overprotective big brother thing. “I just met some guy, Michele Crispino, I think? He and his sister were fighting because she wanted to spend some time with her soulmate and you know what, forget that, if Beka hasn’t kicked your ass yet good enough for me.”

“Heh. Michele’s still giving Sara problems? Idiot. I’d have thought he’d want the time with his soulmate anyway.”

Selim shrugged. “I just report the facts, I don’t make them. Who do you think wins here?”

“Me, of course. Would love to have Beka on the podium with me, but I’m on top.”

“Good luck, then. Beka?”

“Yuri’s gonna win. I hope. I think I can get on the podium, but win… no. I still have a lot of work to do.”

 

The juniors all skated on day one, beginning with ladies. Yuri didn’t pay much attention, preferring to think about his program and watch for angels. He did note that the Japanese girl was in second, by less than a point. The men skated after ice dance. Saviliy went first, followed by Otabek, who took the lead. Emil took it from him, while Leo fell on a triple Lutz and ended up just ahead of Guang Hong at the bottom of the standings.

Emil’s 75 was beatable, but Yuri would have to skate well. Both of his early jumps went well, and his spins were on fire as he joined the Valkyries in choosing the honored dead. His triple Salchow-triple toe loop combo also went well, and when he came to a stop, it felt like he’d done enough to earn the win. Yakov agreed, although he hadn’t done enough to avoid the lecture on what could be better. The judges agreed, too, and his 76 was a personal best and a win.

Senior pairs went right after junior pairs, and Yuri stayed to watch Stas and Salomat. It was rather obvious that they were outclassed by the others, but their routine was still beautiful and fun to watch. The senior ladies were the last skate of the day. Iona took first with Yuuko right behind her, while Skye ended up in third. Kei was right on their heels.

 

Day 2 had all the junior free skates, once again starting with the ladies. Takako made up the one point difference and then some, winning big, and Yuri rolled his eyes a little. This was not going to help with the idiot shippers. In the junior men’s, Yuri watched and waited as the others went. Guang Hong and Leo both skated clean, but safe, programs. Saviliy took a risk and it didn’t pay off, as he fell on his second triple axel and struggled with a couple spins. Otabek used his quad to guarantee himself a medal, and Emil responded with his first competition quad to guarantee himself at least silver.

If Yuri wanted to win without a quad, he’d have to skate well. Emil and Otabek hadn’t exactly left him much room for mistakes. Thankfully, he was up to the challenge, and he showed it right away with a huge triple toe loop-double toe loop-double toe loop combination, followed almost immediately by an even huger triple axel. Yakov was really going to have to work at it to find faults with his jumps and spins, and even his step sequence was great.

Yakov didn’t look a bit surprised when Yuri came off. “Thank you for proving that you can win in Juniors without a quad.”

“I haven’t won yet.”

“But you will.” Yakov ran through some of the pickiest criticisms Yuri had ever heard, but it was clearly just killing time until his score popped up. Yuri stared at it in disbelief. 157 was good enough he could win in seniors, if the top skaters weren’t there. He looked at Yakov, who smiled. “I told you. You won. Go get your medal.”

Anya and Christov finished in third in ice dance, behind Jolanda and Masumi and Solène and Jean-Augustin. Christophe kicked off the senior men’s skating, setting the bar high at 87, a mark that neither Kamil nor Paul could match. Georgi could, and did, leading by a few tenths.

Viktor started out well, nailing his triple axel and quad Lutz. He enjoyed his time as a demon, frolicking through Hell, spinning and stepping and generally having fun. He was pleased with the 98 awarded – it might be enough for first. Yuuri’s ghost cowboy program was also a big hit, and he hit both quads cleanly for the first time this season. His base value was enough lower that, despite the higher performance score, he ended up just short of 97, putting him in second.

“First and second again – does it ever get old, being on top?”

“No. Not as long as we’re up here together,” Viktor said, hugging Yuuri. “Speaking of being on top, I would like to congratulate my rinkmate, gold medalist Yuri Plisetsky! That was one of the best skates I’ve ever seen, and I can’t wait to see what happens in his future. He’s going to be great.”

“Do you think he’ll be beating you?”

Viktor shrugged. “Eventually, yes, I think he’ll break whatever records my husband doesn’t steal first. Head to head, harder to say. It will depend on when his growth spurts hit, when I retire, and who luck favors.”

“Do you intend to retire to avoid having to compete against him?”

“No. The only other skater I would consider at all a factor in my retirement is my Yuuri, and that’s only because he’s not just another skater, he’s my husband. I don’t feel the need to avoid Yuri Plisetsky. I welcome a new challenger. I’m also not going to retire to give him an easier path to victory, either, before anyone asks! For one thing, he’d never forgive me; for another thing, there would still be my Yuuri to get through.”

“So despite you planning on having a real child soon, you’re still invested in Yuri Plisetsky?”

“Misha didn’t stop being one of my closest friends when his first child was born.”

“You weren’t like Misha’s son.”

“Yuri’s not our son. More like a little brother. We love him to pieces, and consider him part of our family, and that’s not going to change just because the family’s getting bigger,” Yuuri said. “Yuri’s been an amazing big brother when given the chance, and I would expect that to be the same regardless of whether he considers himself our child’s big brother or uncle.”

 

The next morning, Yuri found Viktor and Yuuri before any skating started. “Hey. Thanks for what you said about me last night.”

“You’re welcome!” Viktor hugged Yuri.

“I know you have your doubts, and I was not about to let some idiot reporter feed them,” Yuuri said. “We weren’t too embarrassing in supporting you?”

“Nah. You guys were pretty cool. Have you seen Mila?”

Viktor shook his head. “I don’t want to. Because if I’m seeing her, it means her plan didn’t work, and she’ll be very put out about it.”

“Her plan?”

“She’s decided that Emil’s going to be her new best friend, and they’re going to hang out with their soulmates together. Then she can get Emil to distract Mickey when he starts getting snarly about Mila getting too soulmatey.” Yuuri shrugged. “From what I’ve heard from Michele, it’s been working pretty well.”

 

Salomat and Stas finished last in pairs, but they didn’t care one bit. For them, just being here was huge. Skye’s struggles continued, and Kei did just well enough to pass her and give Japan a sweep – Yuuko gold, Iona silver, and Kei bronze. Sara moved up to finish fifth ahead of Cathy. Anya and Christov dropped to fourth behind the leading American ice dance team, while Jolanda and Masumi stole the gold from the French. Chris overtook Georgi to guarantee himself a medal, while Paul finished last in his first Grand Prix Finals. He didn’t look at all disappointed with himself, though.

Yuuri’s free skate started well, but he bobbled his quad salchow a little. He recovered from that, pushing forward to a perfect layback spin and a stellar step sequence, and with no further bobbles, he was pleased with himself when he headed for Yakov. It wasn’t enough for the 200, but it might be enough for the win. 197 for an overall 294 was extremely good. Both of those were records.

Viktor made a very clear statement that he didn’t intend to let those stand for long right off the bat. His first two jumps were both outstanding, and his spins were excellent. No bobbles, a clean program, and as he sat beside Yakov he waited impatiently. “What do you think, Yakov? Who wins?”

“I don’t know. Yuuri performed better, but had that mistake. It will be close. Too close for me to call. What do you think?”

“I think I won. Yuuri?”

Yuuri shook his head. “Too close to call. I’d rather see you win, though, since I did have that mistake.”

Viktor’s 196 wasn’t enough to beat Yuuri’s free skate score, but with the lead from the day before, he ended up taking the gold by three tenths.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuri goes to America for Christmas. Boris decides there are some parts of stepparenting he has absolutely no interest in.
> 
> Timeline: December 2014

With the Grand Prix behind them, it was time for Viktor and Yuuri to focus on their scholastic finals. Once again, they would be taking their finals early, with January being free from class entirely. “There are some nice things about being in our last year, I guess,” Yuuri said when he realized that. “June isn’t going to feel real, is it?”

“No, probably not, but by then we’ll have something else we’re looking forward to,” Viktor said. “I can’t say I’m going to miss the schedule and trying to fit in both a full day’s studies and a full day’s skating practice most days, but I am going to miss the fun of school.”

“Are we going to go on a proper vacation this summer, or go to Hasetsu?”

“If Mari wants us in Hasetsu, then absolutely go, but somehow I think Mari’s going to tell us to go have one last child-free summer vacation.” Viktor stroked Yuuri’s hair. “Is there somewhere you want to go?”

“I haven’t thought about it yet.” It wasn’t the whole truth, but close enough. He hadn’t done enough thinking to have any serious ideas. “Phichit’s lobbying for us to go to Antarctica for some reason, but don’t we get enough cold, living here through the winter?”

“On the other hand, Saint Petersburg doesn’t have penguins! But then, the only thing Antarctica really has is ice, and I think we do get more than enough of that…” Viktor put a finger to his lips. “Africa? We’ve been to Egypt, but Kenya or South Africa or the rainforest would be neat. If we go to Argentina or Chile, we might be able to take a short trip to Antarctica anyway, and we could probably see penguins there. Why is Phichit wanting us to go to Antarctica?”

“I don’t know. He just says that it’s unlikely we’d ever go there for a skating competition, which is true, and taking a small child would be difficult, which is also true. What I don’t understand is why we’d want to go in the first place, and he can’t come up with a reason either.”

 

Yuri’s vacation plans were set, naturally. Russian Junior Nationals was after the New Year, so he was going to New York for Christmas again. Boris picked him up at the airport, without the girls. “Where are Natasha and Katya?”

“Natasha’s in preschool and even for you she didn’t want to miss the Christmas party today, and Katya’s at her sitter’s. We’re going to pick them up on the way home, but I wanted to talk to you without little ears listening. Or your mama, for that matter.”

“Oh, fuck. Boris, please, please tell me this is not the sex talk.” It was coming, probably should have happened already honestly, but he did not want to do this in a car with Boris. Even having Lilia do it while he practiced ballet would be better than that.

“No, that’s one stepfather duty I am perfectly happy to leave to Viktor or Yakov or Nikolai. I wanted to ask you about the boxes and flowers that got delivered to my office. There’s no name on the return address, so do you have any idea why something from Switzerland would be delivered to me for you?”

Yuri groaned. “I changed my mind. Can this be the sex talk?”

“Sex is bad. Only worth it for your soulmate. Don’t do it until then.” Yuri couldn’t help the laugh, which made Boris smile. “What’s going on?”

“Lev is being fucking creepy again. Dunno why Switzerland, but unaddressed package to me that went somewhere that Yakov, Lilia, Viktor, and Mama wouldn’t see it? Probably from him. Won’t know for sure unless I open it, but I’m guessing it’s Christmas presents for my Canadian friends.”

“Okay, and aside from knowing my office address, that’s creepy because…”

“Because this isn’t the first time he’s given me stuff to give my friends. He’s buying into the rumors that one of them is my girlfriend and trying to ‘help’ me. A couple times he’s broken into my hotel room or paid someone else to do it. Creepy.”

“Also illegal. Even if he’s just paying someone else to do it, that’s still a crime. If it happens again, call the police.”

“Right, the cops are gonna do something about a trespasser in a hotel,” Yuri grumbled. “Especially since he’s my dad.”

“Once it’s a police matter, you can get the international police involved, and they’re used to dealing with parents who aren’t supposed to have access to their child. Do you want to open the packages? Depending on what’s in them, it may not hurt anything to send them along, or give them to your mama or sisters.”

Yuri wanted to burn them, but then again, he was too curious. “Yeah, why not, can’t hurt anything to see what he sent.”

Their first stop was at the preschool, where Boris brought Yuri in with him. Natasha’s face lit up when Yuri called her name, and she came flying across the room to hug him. The teacher tried to catch her, but Boris intervened. “YURA! Look! We made presents! This is for you!” Natasha handed him a very glittery picture of a cat in a Santa hat.

Natasha talked all the way to picking up Katya, telling Yuri all about preschool and how most of the kids were nice but there were a couple boys who liked to tease her and one of the girls hated her. “I don’t understand why. She says it’s because I’m blonde, but what’s that got to do with anything?”

“Who knows. Are there other blonde kids in your class?”

“Only some of the boys, and she’s not friends with them because they’re boys. She’s mean to Susana too, but that’s because Susana doesn’t speak English very well yet. Her parents are from Gua… Gata… Papa?”

“Guatamala,” Boris supplied. “Say it?”

“Gua-ta-ma-la,” Natasha repeated. “Guatamala. They speak Spanish there!”

“Sounds like she’s not really worth having as a friend, then. Do you like Susana?”

“She’s fun to play with, and way nicer than Jaelynn.”

 

The presents turned out to be Swiss chocolate, for Otabek, Dariya, Cécile, Julien, and… “Seriously? Takako? I’ve barely even met her!” Yuri balled up the paper and threw it across the room. “I don’t want it and I don’t think Mama would want to eat anything that came from Lev, but if you want it or want to give it to Natasha and Katya, that’s fine.”

“Maybe a little, but there’s already so much chocolate around this time of year… and Irishka would probably kill us if she knew we let her girls eat something from Lev, for that matter.” Boris shook his head. “Shame to waste good Swiss chocolate, though. Think your friends might appreciate it anyway?”

Yuri pulled out his phone and explained the situation to Otabek. He once again found himself laughing at the response. “Beka says he’s happy to volunteer as a home for neglected fancy chocolate, and since no one’s started stupid rumors about me and him, it’s safe. Since he’s living with the LeRoys, they still get some, and he can give some to his sister without weirdness.”

“What about Takako’s?”

“I have a friend in France who might like it. I won’t tell him the whole story.”

“What happens if stupid rumors start about Otabek or your friend in France?”

“Beka will probably find it hilarious, and Richard’s a little upset that the rumors aren’t happening about him. He’s an idiot, but if it’ll make him happy, whatever.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nationals, Part I.

Separating to fly to Nationals sucked. Even knowing that it was only for a few days – both skated on the same days, even the exhibitions were the same – it was still hard. Yuuri did not want to let go of Viktor to go get on his plane. At least Viktor would have the other Russians to distract him on his flight – Yuuri was flying alone. The flight was long and uncomfortable and this was going to be bad.

He’d expected to see someone at the airport waiting for him, but no one was there. No one was at the hotel, either. Around eight, he got a call from Yuuko. “We’re on our way. I’m so sorry we weren’t there, but we kind of had an emergency here and I couldn’t leave and I kept telling Minako she should go be there for you but she wouldn’t.”

“What happened? Should I blow off practice to come down?”

“No, no, it’s not… the triplets were having a race around the rink and Axel’s skate caught an ice chip and she went flying into the wall. She’s got a broken arm, but she’s more upset that we said no skating until the doctor said she could than she is about the pain. She’s coming with us.”

“Oh no! Poor Axel! That reaction to injury sounds familiar though…”

“I know, right? Takeshi even asked me how our kid ended up taking after you! Remember the time Minako had to tell you you weren’t allowed to dance until your foot healed?”

“I was so mad. It wasn’t even a dance injury!” Yuuri had been playing on the beach with Mari, stepped on a piece of broken glass, and not told anyone until that night, when his foot felt like it was on fire. It had gotten infected, and everyone had been mad at him for not telling anyone he’d hurt himself. “If she’s got that level of stubborn there’s a good chance she’ll be a pretty good skater though.”

“She’s kind of sad that there aren’t competitions for four-year-olds. She can’t even do a proper jump yet, but she wants to compete. We’ll see if that lasts, but… I wouldn’t mind seeing her get into this. I also wouldn’t blame her for deciding that the expectations are too much and she doesn’t want to follow in my footsteps because she’ll always be ‘daughter of two-time Olympian Nishigori Yuuko’. Your kid’s going to have it even worse.”

“I know. I’m not planning on putting any pressure on them to get on the ice at all, but I’m sure the press will be calling them a disappointment if they’re not doing double axels by their fourth birthday.”

“Do you have any preference between boy or girl? I know Mari doesn’t care, but do you and Viktor?”

“Nah. Once they hit puberty, it’ll be easier for me and Viktor to help with a boy, but we both have sisters and a lot of female friends. For a baby or a toddler, who cares?”

“Good attitude. Glad to hear it. I gotta go, see you in a couple hours!”

 

Skating the short program on Viktor’s birthday was a good motivator for Yuuri. He couldn’t be with Viktor to celebrate, but he could set himself up for a gold medal for his dragon to kiss when they were finally reunited. Sachio hadn’t been having the greatest year, so Yuuri wasn’t exactly worried. Togai might be a bigger threat, but still, Yuuri expected to win this easily.

He hadn’t realized that Kenjirou would be there, which he felt bad about when the junior national champion came flying over. “Isn’t this exciting? I can’t believe I’m here! Do you think I can get in the top ten? My coach thinks I can, but there are so many good skaters and I’m…”

“Way too excited. I got in the top ten my first year here, when I was fifteen, so yes. I think you can. If you don’t calm down you won’t have any energy left to skate with though!”

“True, but that was you! You’re so good. Good luck!”

Minami’s score was good, in the high 60s, which had him in fifth going into the last group. Top ten was very likely for him. Sachio and Togai had both already skated and were first and second. Masaki took third, so when Yuuri skated, Minami couldn’t finish worse than seventh.

Yuuri started out badly, losing his balance on his quad toe loop, but he recovered nicely and finished the program with no more serious mistakes. It was weird going over to Minako and getting praise instead of criticism, but he accepted it and mentally told himself off for the toe loop. Unsurprisingly, his 96 put him well in first.

 

In Russia, Viktor was doing his best to keep himself distracted. He joined Mila to watch Italy’s nationals, while Mila complained about all these stupid nationals being held at the same time so people couldn’t go watch their soulmates skate. “Emil gets to be there to watch Mickey. It’s not fair.”

“I quite agree. I’m a little surprised Italy does theirs now, I thought they’d care more about Christmas.”

“I know! I’m even more impressed by you and Yuuri being able to do this… Sara and I don’t have anywhere near the separation crap you two do, and I hate this so much.”

“Are you going to Italy for New Year’s?”

“No, she, Mickey, and Emil are coming to Russia. I thought it would be Italy, but apparently Mickey wants to come to Russia?”

“So that’s working? Emil’s helping Michele get used to you and Sara?”

Mila giggled. “Yeah. Any time Mickey starts getting weird, Emil grabs him for a kiss, and he shuts up quickly. It’s so cute seeing him get flustered like that.”

 

The first thing Viktor did when he woke up on his birthday was to check in on Japan’s nationals. He was just in time to watch Kenjirou skate, which meant plenty of time to watch his Yuuri win. There was time to send a congratulatory text, but not much else as he had to get to the rink for his own competition. He was skating late, but Georgi had somehow drawn early, and he wanted to be there for it. Georgi broke 90, giving him a lead that held up through everyone up to Viktor. Rykov was behind him in second, with an 87.

Viktor didn’t have trouble with his program. The first jumps flowed well, and even though his quad toe loop-triple toe loop wasn’t as good as it had been at the Finals, it was still clean, at least. 98 was a nice big lead going into the free skate, and he was not at all worried about losing it.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nationals Free Skates and cute triplets
> 
> Timeline: December 26, 2014

The next day, Yuuri spent the day with Yuuko and Kenjirou and the triplets. Axel wanted to know how long it would be until she could compete at Nationals too. “A while, probably,” Kenjirou told her. “You have to be in juniors, and you can’t do that until you’re thirteen, so with your birthday, it’ll be ten years – and that’s only if you’re good enough to get invited here. Twelve years until you can be a senior.”

“Will you still be skating then?” Axel asked.

Kenjirou shrugged. “I hope so! If I am, I promise to hang out with you at any competitions if you want!”

“What about you?” Lutz asked Yuuri.

Yuuri shook his head. “It’s unlikely. Most skaters don’t go past thirty, and I’m already over twenty. I won’t say it’s impossible, but I don’t expect it will be ten years before I retire.”

“Awwwww,” Axel said. “Will you still come?”

“Now that, I can promise,” Yuuri said. “Viktor and I will both come watch you compete any time we can.”

“Yaaaaaaay!” Axel hugged Yuuri as best she could with her arm in a cast.

“Loop? Do you want to compete?”

Loop looked up from her phone and shrugged. “Maybe. I’m not as good as Axel or Lutz.”

“You could be!” Kenjirou said. “You’re just more scared of falling than they are, and it’s holding you back. I bet you could be great if you could find a way to get through that!”

Yuuri smiled. This one, he had a bit of experience with. “Why are you scared of falling, Lutz? What happened to Axel is rare, you know.”

Loop pouted. “I know. I’m not worried about the pain. I just don’t like messing up, and falls are messing up.”

“Well, in that case, just remind yourself that everyone messes up. I can put together a video of times where your mom or Viktor or I have messed up in a competition where it really mattered, and you can watch that to remind yourself that it happens to everyone, okay? Like the time I fell in the Olympics when everyone was watching me and hoping I could do well.”

Loop nodded. “That might help. Thank you.”

 

Kenjirou had started the day in seventh, which was a bit of a shame, really. One spot higher – two points – and he could have been in the group with Yuuri and the other top skaters. That would have been nice. It seemed like Kenjirou wanted to show that he could earn it, too, as he did an excellent free skate that neither the fifth nor sixth place skater could match, although the fifth-place skater had enough of a lead to beat him overall. Masaki had a good day, as well, while Togai had a couple missteps that didn’t quite drop him enough to end up below Masaki, and Sachio held his silver.

All Yuuri had to do was finish, basically. No concern about one missed quad meaning he didn’t win gold. With that lack of pressure, Yuuri relaxed, and went out and skated something for the triplets to enjoy. His jumps were clean, and his choreographic sequence was probably the best he’d ever done it. Nonetheless, he ran through the critique as best he could while he waited for the score. 198 was huge, so close to the 200 Yakov wanted to see out of them. Soon, Yuuri hoped.

The ladies had their short program that day as well, so Yuuri sat with Kenjirou, Takeshi, and the triplets to watch. Kenjirou was thrilled with his sixth place finish. “Maybe next year I can do even better!”

“Maybe?”

“I’m gonna stay in juniors one more year. I could move up, I know, but Mom and Dad don’t think I’m ready and I don’t think I’m ready so one more year. At least. Maybe two. Maybe even three, just depends how I do!”

“Good idea.”

Yuuko won the day, but just barely, as Kei skated extremely well. Iona struggled, putting her in third, Sako fourth, and Takako fifth. “Looks like Kei’s becoming a huge threat,” Yuuri said.

“Looks like,” Takeshi said. “We’ll see how it holds up in the free skate. Iona usually doesn’t have that much trouble twice. Oh, hey, I don’t know if Phichit’s seen this and decided to ignore it or what, but someone’s started writing about Kei and Togai as figure skating’s power couple that they were denied with you and Yuuko. You got a foreigner and Yuuko got some nobody from nowhere.”

“Aren’t all three of us some nobodies from nowhere – the same nowhere, in fact? I’m sure the JSF is happy with having a power couple to promote, but why drag me and Yuuko into it?”

“I don’t know. Yuuko thinks it’s stupid, and refuses to engage.”

“Probably for the best. Phichit and Mihara must agree or they’d have said something to me.”

 

Viktor loved waking up from his nap to learn there was gold to kiss as soon as he got to Hasetsu. It made it so much easier to get ready for his own program, to be sure he brought home gold as well. Not that he was worried; even with Georgi’s strong short program score, it was unlikely that Georgi could keep up with Viktor.

The ladies would skate first, and Viktor just hoped Yakov’s ears would have recovered from the squealing Mila did when she beat Raisa to take first. It was just the short program; he didn’t want to know what would happen if Mila won the free skate too. He wasn’t sure Yakov’s eardrums could take it.

Vadim finished ahead of Yulian for fourth, assuming Rykov and Georgi didn’t screw up too badly. Rykov did great, almost cracking 180 and guaranteeing himself his first medal at Nationals; Georgi responded by getting a 184 to guarantee himself silver. Viktor focused on the competition he was really worried about – Yuuri had gotten 198 and Viktor didn’t want to be too far behind. It was a great program, a good run, all his jumps clean. It was also only worth a 196, and Viktor couldn’t argue. He needed to tweak his program if he wanted to beat Yuuri at Worlds.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Operation Viktuuri Baby kicks into full active phase.
> 
> Timeline: late December 2014

Waiting through the ladies’ skates and exhibitions was frustrating, but necessary. In Japan, Yuuko won, making her the favorite at Four Continents and Worlds. It freaked her out a little. “I’ve been a favorite to medal, just because I’m part of Japan’s dynasty, but not to win, Yuuri! What do I do with this?”

“There’s a couple things you can do. You can do what Vitya does and embrace it, do what I do and ignore it to focus on beating one specific person, like Skye or Iona, or you can let it get in your head and sabotage you.”

“Skye’s good. I can beat Skye. Okay. I think I can do that.” Yuuko took a couple of deep breaths. “Thanks.”

“No problem. You should’ve seen me the first time anyone started talking about me being a favorite to win. Even now, I still need to remind myself that I’m the favorite because I can deserve it. Ignoring me, Vitya is the best in men’s singles by a lot, and I’ve beaten Vitya before. If I can just focus on that, it helps me not think about the pressure of needing to beat everyone else, too.”

Yuuko giggled a little. “It obviously does, you and Viktor are complete relationship goals, but I still don’t understand how the two of you being so determined to crush each other’s dreams works for you. What are you going to do if you’re both still skating when your kid’s old enough to understand that you’re competing against each other and you can’t both win?”

“That’s the thing. When one of us wins, we both win, because we have that bond. It’ll be a good way to teach our kids sportsmanship, don’t you think? It’s important to learn no matter what they grow up to be.”

“Somehow, I can’t imagine any kid of yours and Viktor’s being a sore loser. You used to take losing really hard, but you never held it against any of the people who beat you.”

“Doesn’t mean they’re born knowing how to do that. We have to teach them. I don’t know, maybe with the triplets they learned how to lose to each other easily, but I think Mari will kill us if she ends up with triplets.”

“No, she wouldn’t. Mari’s too practical for that. She saw how everyone rallied around me, so she’ll survive the six months or however long it ends up being before you take them, and then she can hand them off. If she kills you two, she has to keep them the full eighteen years.”

Kei had held off Iona for second, barely, while Sako took a very convincing fourth. Four Continents would be Yuuko, Kei, Sako, Yuuri, Sachio, and Masaki, while Worlds would be Yuuko, Kei, Iona, Yuuri, Sachio, and Togai.

 

In Russia, Viktor’s fears proved right, if somewhat dramatic. Mila’s shrieks of joy at winning the gold _hurt_. She and silver medalist Raisa were chosen for Worlds, with bronze medalist Alena joining them at Europeans. Viktor, Georgi, and Rykov would represent Russia at both competitions.

With that decided and the exhibition skated, Viktor could finally get on a plane back to his Yuuri. Once off the plane, he didn’t have long to wait, and he certainly wasn’t going to complain about Yuuri’s kissing priorities. At least, not seriously. “Where is it?”

“Where’s yours?”

Viktor pulled the medal out of his coat pocket. Yuuri took his out as well, and they linked arms to do a simultaneous kiss. Yes, there were flashes going off. So what? Even Yuuri didn’t care. “Mari’s got it set up for you to go in tomorrow.”

“Why tomorrow?”

“Well, for one thing, it’s the anniversary of you showing up that first time, and I thought you’d find that romantic.”

“Awwww! I do! How sweet!” He kissed Yuuri again. “What’s the other reason?”

“You’re supposed to abstain from sex for a few days beforehand, and since you have been already, the sooner we get it over with…”

Viktor was on board just from the sweet romantic gesture, but now, there was no way he was asking Mari to postpone. “Ah. Yes. Very good point.” Something else occurred to him that just reinforced the decision. “Also I’m supposed to stay out of the hot spring because the hot temperature is bad for fertility. Yes. It’s too late to go tonight and I’m tired, but I still want to get this done as soon as possible so we can properly enjoy our vacation.”

 

To Viktor’s surprise, Mari came with them to the appointment. “I’ve been tracking my period and it turns out now’s a good time to try,” Mari explained. “They said it could take a couple tries, and if we’re lucky this one takes and the baby’s born in late September. If not, next attempt would have the baby born in late October, which runs into Grand Prix issues. Figured the Challenger Series is less important and you guys have more options with that one anyway, and you’d have the sense not to sign up around the time I’m due.”

“Yay! Yuuri, we could have a baby soon!” Viktor did a little happy dance at the thought. “Do you want us there for it, or would that be weird?”

“Your baby,” Mari said with a shrug. “I’m okay with the weirdness if you are, but if you think it’ll be a problem or just don’t want to wait, then by all means provide backup samples and head to a hotel or whatever.”

Between the time apart and helping Viktor with his part of the job, the temptation of getting to go to a hotel proved to be too much for Yuuri, even with Viktor being a little worn out. There was no way he was making it back to Hasetsu. Viktor put up no resistance at all. Mari laughed at them both when they met up to go back home, but she was sympathetic, too.

“How are you feeling? Pregnant?” Viktor asked.

“We won’t know for a while,” Mari said. “Doc said everything went well and there’s a good chance of success, but until I get that positive pregnancy test, I’m not gonna get anyone’s hopes up.”

“Too late.” Yuuri squeezed Viktor’s hand and smiled. “I don’t think Viktor was listening to a word you said other than ‘went well’ and ‘good chance’.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First competition of the year, and another shoe drops and sadly misses beaning Lev in the head.
> 
> Timeline: January 2015

Viktor and Yuuri made it back to Russia just in time to wave goodbye to Yuri, who was heading out for the Torun Cup. Yuri was a little questionable on this one, since he’d been out of practice for so long before leaving, but he was still confident he’d win. He’d considered dropping out, but decided against it. For one thing, the money was nice; for another, Richard was going to be there. Otabek had been considering it, until he realized his older sister’s baby was due around that time. Shame, really, but it meant no drama if Richard and Otabek still didn’t like each other.

 

First day of skating was all novices, so Yuri didn’t even bother going to the rink. None of his novice friends had come, and he didn’t really care about any of the others. Besides, Richard had brought his Xbox, so they holed up in his room playing Call of Duty. No chance of running into Lev, if he’d come. It was perfect.

“Is it safe to assume you’re going to Junior Worlds?” Richard asked.

“Yeah. Saviliy did well enough last year that Russia gets to send two, so even if I fuck up somehow and don’t win nationals, there’s no way they’re not gonna send me after I won the Junior Grand Prix. What about you?”

Richard shrugged. “Probably. Matthieu finished tenth, so France gets to send two, and I’m pretty sure I can make a good case. I have to do well at Junior Nationals, though, and they’re like the week before Junior Worlds. I’m kinda nervous about it.”

“You’ll do fine. You’d better.”

 

The morning of the short program, Otabek texted him.

**_I made the right call. My grandparents are going absolutely bonkers._ **  
**_Daniyar’s the first boy in his generation after six girls._ **  
**_They woke me up in the middle of the night, they were so excited._ **  
**_Good luck today. Did Lev show up?_ **

_Haven’t seen Lev yet._  
_Congrats on the nephew._  
_Still wish you’d come. Although I guess you’d be skating on no sleep, so probably not well._

**_Probably better than I did on my chemistry test today._ **  
**_Even with JJ’s help none of this stuff makes any sense._ **  
**_JJ’s been distracted by family drama though._ **  
**_Gabriel and Therese are supposed to be starting novices next season as ice dancers._ **  
**_They haven’t spoken to each other since New Year’s._ **

_WTF?_

**_I don’t know. Not my business, haven’t asked._ **

One nice thing about juniors – there were more competitors. He’d checked the novice boys out of curiosity; there were only five, as opposed to sixteen junior men. Yuri could check out and goof off while he waited to skate. He and Richard were both in the last group. The highest scores when Yuri left to go out to the ice were in the 50s. No problem, for him. It wasn’t as good as in Barcelona, but it didn’t have to be. 70 was fine, even if Yakov had plenty of criticism. Richard was the only other skater to break 60, so it’s not like it was all that big a deal. Yuri even had a cool new stuffed spider to keep his metal one company, thanks to a fan throwing it to him on the ice. He wished he’d seen who it was.

Of course, it couldn’t be perfect. He pointed Lev out to Yakov. He had his arm around the woman beside him. “Any idea who that is?”

“A new victim? An accomplice in his efforts to convince you he’s changed? Both?” Yakov shrugged. “Not anyone I know. I don’t care, either.”

Yuri pulled out his phone and took as good a picture as he could get without getting any closer. When Yakov looked at him odd, he explained, “If she shows up at a signing or something, I want to be able to recognize her.”

“Hmm. Good idea. You might get that to Phichit, see if he can track her down and figure out who she is.”

 

Yuri took Yakov’s advice, and Phichit had results for him the next day. “Her name’s Romana Fiorentino, she’s an Italian model, she’s nineteen, I have no idea what she’s doing with Lev. She does not mention a soulmate or a boyfriend or girlfriend anywhere on her social media, but that could be a privacy thing.”

“Well, she’s not his soulmate, unless he had two and never bothered to tell Mama about the second one. I really hope she’s not his girlfriend, that’s just weird.”

Fortunately, whatever she was, Yuri didn’t see her or Lev before he had to skate. He could focus on preparing for his free skate. He lost focus a little bit when it took until the final group for someone to break 100, and then Richard finished with 138. Clear silver, at least. Yuri didn’t take it easy, but he didn’t push himself to get up to skate his best like he had in the Finals. 148 was still much better than he’d done in the early part of the season, and he was happy to take that and the gold.

Romana caught up to Yuri as he and Yakov were leaving. “Yuri Plisetsky?”

Yuri turned and froze. “Do you want something signed?”

“No. I just wanted to introduce myself. My name’s Romana, and I’m going to be your stepmother in April.” Romana held out a hand.

Yuri just stared at it. “What.”

“I’m going to be marrying your father in April.” Romana let her hand drop. “I know, it’s very sudden, since you probably hadn’t heard of me before, but we wanted to get the wedding in before I had to wear a maternity wedding gown.”

“ _What._ ”

“Lev is going to be a father again! He’s so excited. I know you two have your problems, but you’ll support your little brother or sister, won’t you?”

“Someone has to, and I find it hard to believe Lev’s going to. You know he ditched my mama when she got pregnant, right?” He was just going to ignore that Romana was so much closer to his age than Lev’s. The idea of Lev actually showing up to this wedding had him nauseated, and he didn’t even want to think about what would happen when Irina found out.

“I know. He told me about it when he told me about you, and how much he regrets not being there for you and the difficulty the two of you have had reconnecting because of it.”

“Yeah. Difficulty. You could say that. Lev is so full of shit. Trust me. Get out now, while you still can. If he’d ditch his soulmate, what makes you think Lev’s going to stick with you?”

“He’s older, wiser, and has learned from his mistakes?” Romana tilted her head. “Why are you so hostile, Yuri? Lev thought you’d be happy to have a younger sibling.”

“I have two. They’re awesome. They are not Lev’s kids. When Lev abandons this one too, you can get hold of me through my publicist, but I don’t want anything to do with a kid Lev is raising.” Yuri turned and ran.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Europeans, short program, and ongoing Romana Drama Llama
> 
> Timeline: January 2015

Viktor and Yuuri were suitably horrified by the news from Torun. “What are you going to do?” Yuuri asked.

Yuri shrugged. “What the hell am I supposed to do? Romana knows what he did to Mama and me and believes his bullshit about having changed and wanting to make up for it. Maybe he really is sincere, I don’t know. I can’t see her listening to me over him until it’s too late, and there’s nothing good that can come out of me telling Mama. Might tell Boris. In fact… I probably should. She’s a model, I don’t know what the chances are of them running into her but he would and he could keep it from happening.”

“Oof, yeah. That would be bad!” Viktor hugged Yuri, which Yuri tolerated as long as he could. “What about the wedding? Are you going to go?”

“That would send a seriously mixed message about wanting Lev as far away from me as possible. What the fuck, old man?”

“Weddings are fun!” Viktor sat back down. “Oh! What about giving your new stepmother a wedding gift of being sure to get her and Lev publicity using your own? That’s exactly what Lev wants, she’s a model and would probably love it… and you know the press that likes to cover you just loves spinning things to be the most salacious possible angle.”

“Now that… that’s an idea.” Yuri grinned and started texting Phichit. He’d know where to plant the news.

 

January was a nice break, with only working on their senior projects and Viktor getting ready for Europeans. “One semester and then we are university graduates, Yuuri! Have you thought about how you want to celebrate?”

“I was thinking we could start preparing the house for a baby, even though we wouldn’t be bringing it home for almost a year. Oh, and go on vacation somewhere. Any word from Mari?”

Viktor shook his head. “She said she’d let us know anything she did after Europeans. She doesn’t expect to learn anything before then anyway, and that way I’m not sitting around Stockholm waiting for news instead of getting out and exploring the city.”

“Fair enough.”

 

Just before they left, stories started breaking about Lev’s intention to marry Romana. It was even better than Yuri had known – in addition to the whole “she’s nineteen and he’s forty-seven” thing, there was soulmate scandal. Romana’s soulmate was a twenty-year-old photographer who Romana refused to work with once they learned they were soulmates, and while Yuuri and Viktor were sure there was more to the story, it was easily exploitable for bad press for Lev. It did make Yuri feel a little bad for Romana. “Aside from having crap taste in men and letting him knock her up, she didn’t exactly do anything wrong, but she’s the one getting raked over the coals here.”

“She’s also the one who appears to never even tried to have anything with her soulmate,” Viktor said. He held up his hands at Yuuri and Yuri’s glares. “I know. There’s probably a reason for it. But you have to admit it doesn’t look good, and that was her choice.”

 

One slight drawback to the plan to not hear anything about the potential baby until after Europeans was that by the time Chris showed up and asked if there was any news, it was the sixth time they’d had to explain that they wouldn’t know anything until after at the very least the men’s free skate and they were sick of answering that question. “Chris, you know that if we knew anything, you’d have been among the first to know,” Yuuri said.

“Oh, I don’t know, you usually assume Viktor will tell me things and Viktor sometimes forgets to tell me about important things.” Chris winked at Viktor.

Viktor groaned dramatically, sliding out of his chair to puddle on the floor. “And I am never going to be allowed to forget it, am I.”

“No, you’re not, in the hopes that it will help your memory.” Chris plopped down beside him and patted his head. "Don't worry. We love you anyway."

 

Through the first three groups, there was some good skating, but nothing impressive or record-threatening. The most notable things in the fourth group were Germany’s Kaleb struggling and being in third going into the last group, while Denmark’s Lukas had the lead. Kamil kicked off the final group well, becoming the first to break 80, and Rykov followed with another score over 80, although not enough to beat Kamil.

Viktor took the ice full of confidence. He had this routine so close to 100, he could break that. His starting big jumps went smoothly, and his spins were on fire. Yakov spent most of his time on Viktor’s step sequence – it hadn’t been bad, but compared to everything else, it had been the weakest part of his skate. Not weak enough to stop him from breaking 100, although only by five hundredths.

Georgi had been having an amazing season, but the bad luck fairy seemed to have caught him, as he fell on a quad salchow and ended up just below 80, putting him behind Kamil and Rykov. Michele beat Kamil, barely, and then Christophe put up an 89 for second.

The media, of course, had to ask. “We don’t know and won’t know until after Friday’s free skate,” Viktor said. “Even if we did know anything, we would prefer not to announce anything publicly until later, just in case something goes wrong. Worlds would probably be the soonest we’d make a public announcement. If it’s later than that, expect something from our publicists during the offseason.”

“What do you think of Yuri Plisetsky’s stepmother-to-be?”

“More than I think of his father, which isn’t saying much.” Viktor winked at the reporters. “I haven’t met the lady, Yuri’s only met her the once, and given the distance between Yuri and Lev, I really don’t ever expect to meet her. I wish her well and hope that things work out the way she hopes they will, and that if they don’t, she has good support around her to make sure she and her child are taken care of.”

“You don’t think she should be with her soulmate?”

Viktor bit back his first answer to go with the diplomatic one. “I believe that in general, people should be with their soulmates, but I don’t have to look very far to be reminded that sometimes specific situations make that a terrible idea. One of the things that makes me proudest of my sister Sasha is that she found a way to look past her first impression of Rykov and give him a chance to show his better side, and he did. Yuuri’s sister, on the other hand, has a very good reason for choosing not to give her soulmate a chance to show that he’s changed, and I applaud her for having the courage to stand by her decision. I don’t know Romana or her soulmate or what their situation is, so I don’t feel that I should pass judgment on her.”


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a skating competition. Allegedly.
> 
> Timeline: January 29-30, 2015

Day 2 of Europeans started with the ladies’ short program. Going into the last group, Saila had the lead, followed by Madlene. Alena was in fourth after a disappointing program. Raisa and Mila both ended up behind Saila, with Mila just ahead of Raisa, and then Sara took the lead with Emily right behind her. Mila ended the day in fourth, positioned well for a medal.

After the short dance the day before, Anya and Christov were in second, Jolanda and Masumi third. They ended up trading places in the free dance, while Olesya and Anatolij finished fifth. Day 3 started with the pairs short program, mostly notable for the Russian team being in first.

The men’s free skate ended day 3. The early groups saw a bit of shakeup, but nothing that threatened the top skaters. Kaleb dropped, which was a huge surprise – usually by now, Kaleb was doing well and was at least expected to end up top six. It looked good for him to miss the top ten, beaten by Germany’s other entrant, Dominic.

Georgi recovered nicely from his short program mistakes, putting up a score in the low 180s, which let him jump Rykov. Kamil did well, keeping ahead of Georgi, and then Michele messed up a triple axel that left him looking a little tentative on the rest of his jumps. It was enough to drop him below Rykov, even, making it likely he’d finish sixth. Chris wasn’t bothered by it, skating a clean program that got him a 185 and practically guaranteeing him silver, since only Viktor was left to skate.

Yuuri was rinkside to wish Viktor luck. Once the music started, though, he was distracted by his phone alerting him to a text. It was from Mari.

**_September 21st._ **  
**_If they do the Challenger Series again this year, don’t enter the one that weekend or the one the weekend after._ **

It took Yuuri a moment’s thought to figure out what Mari was saying, and then he had to clap his hands over his mouth to keep from squealing loud enough to distract Viktor. Yakov picked up the phone Yuuri dropped and handed it to him. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Yakov scowled. “Don’t give me that. You’re distracted from watching Vitya skate. Something huge had to have happened.”

“Something huge did happen, but it’s not something wrong. I promise, you’ll know by the end of the day, but I want to tell Viktor first, and if I tell him before the medal ceremony he just might forget to show up.”

“Oh. Okay. You’ve always been my good…” Yakov’s eyes widened. “Oh. Yes. I see.”

Yuuri smiled and put his phone back in his pocket to watch Viktor skate. He’d made some tweaks to the program to strengthen its base value, to better compete with Yuuri and improve his chances at 200, and it showed. He finished with a 197, better than Yuuri’s official world record from the Grand Prix Finals but not as good as Yuuri’s score at Nationals. If Viktor noticed that Yakov had nothing to say about the first minute or so of the program, he didn’t say anything about it. He just hugged Yuuri and went back out for the medal ceremony.

Yuuri held Viktor back in the locker room until everyone had left. Viktor gave him a worried look. “Why are we hiding in here?”

“So I can show you this without witnesses.” Yuuri showed Viktor the texts from Mari. “We’re going to be dads.”

Viktor squealed and hugged Yuuri so hard Yuuri was almost afraid he’d break something. “That’s amazing! But Yuuri, how am I supposed to not talk about this when the press catches me? You know how I get when I’m excited! You could have held on to that until we were back at the hotel…”

“Well, if we’re lucky, they’ll have actually listened when you said there wouldn’t be any public news until Worlds. If not, just say that. There will be no public news until Worlds at the earliest. If they ask why you look so happy, say something about how nice it was being on the podium with Chris and Kamil and seeing Georgi do so much better today, even if it wasn’t enough to get on the podium.”

“Okay, but how do I explain being so late getting out of the locker room?”

“Blame me and let them use their imaginations.” Yuuri took Viktor’s hand and kissed him. “Come on, let’s go.”

 

“Viktor, there you are! Where have you been?”

“Detained by Yuuri!” Viktor winked at the camera. “Sorry about that.”

“Oh, is that why you look so happy? I mean, even taking the gold medal into account?”

Viktor and Yuuri exchanged glances and Yuuri shrugged. “Sure, why not? I almost always am happier when I get to spend time with my husband.”

“Have you heard anything more from Japan?”

Yuuri squeezed Viktor’s hand to remind him of the script. It worked. “As I said before, we will not be sharing any news publicly until Worlds or later, just in case something goes wrong in the early stages. Mari did say she wouldn’t tell us how her recent appointment went until after this skate, and I’ve been rather busy since finishing my skate anyway.”

 

As soon as they made it back to the hotel, both Yuuri and Viktor got their phones out. “I think Yakov already knows. I didn’t tell him, but he noticed I wasn’t watching you skate because I was freaking out about Mari’s text.”

“Yakov probably knows, then, but he’d still never forgive us if we didn’t tell him. Can we assume Mari will have told people in Hasetsu?”

“Mom and Dad at least, but I’m going to call them anyway. They’ll tell us if I need to call Minako and the Nishigoris. Who’s calling Yuri?”

“You. Once I’ve talked to Yakov and Lilia I’m going to find Sasha and Rykov, and possibly Chris if he’s not busy, and that’s likely going to take a while. Are you going to call Phichit or wait for Four Continents?”

“I’ll call him. Who else are we telling?”

“I’ll call Misha and I’ll be sure to tell Georgi and Mila next time I see them. That gets our families and our closest friends, and we can tell other friends later?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Mari hadn’t told Hiroko or Toshiya specifics, just to expect a call from Yuuri soon, but that was enough for them to have a pretty good idea. Yuuko did know, because she’d planned on going with Mari to the appointment for the second attempt if needed and there was no way to hide that Mari hadn’t actually gone, even though she did go into Fukuoka for the day. Minako nearly destroyed Yuuri’s hearing with her squeals of glee. “You and Viktor are going to be the best dads! Be sure and tell Lilia to get that kid in ballet as soon as possible, unless you’re moving back to Hasetsu before then.”

“We’re not gonna force our kid to do anything, Minako,” Yuuri said.

“Not to stick with anything, I know, but exploring options is good and your kid will have the talent there, I’m sure. Besides, kids almost always go through a phase of wanting to be like their parents, and there’s no way Lilia’s letting you neglect your ballet because of skating.”

“No. She’s not. I wouldn’t try, but she isn’t.”

“So your kid will see that and want to try so he can be like daddy or whatever you’re going to have them call you. Which you should probably figure out before September.”

Yuri took the news as well as could be expected. “Thanks for telling me. Don’t expect me to get all stupid and excited about it.”

“We’re not. I know you don’t get as much control over where you’re scheduled, but if you aren’t skating, do you want to come to Japan with us when we go for the baby’s birth?”

“You’d take me?”

“If you want to go and Yakov and Lilia say yes, we’ll take you.” Yuuri couldn’t imagine Viktor or Mari having a problem with that.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Russian Junior Nationals
> 
> Timeline: First Week of February, 2015

Yuuri had expected the news to spread a little. Chris would tell Masumi and Jolanda, Mila would tell Sara who would tell Michele, Georgi would tell Anya… he did not expect to find himself congratulated by Emily Landon before the ladies’ skate. Viktor wasn’t expecting it, either. “How do you suppose she found out?”

“Chris or Sara? Maybe Mila? I guess we’re not going to be able to keep it quiet…” Yuuri shook his head. “I don’t regret telling anyone we did, but I really hope nothing goes wrong now.”

“I’d blame Phichit, except that he’s not here, and I know he knows better than that. You’re probably right, our friends have been gossiping, and I really can’t be mad at them for it except that now the press is going to keep bugging us.”

The ladies skate went well, with newcomer Elodie Barreau of France in the lead going into the final group, and Alena second. Madlene started the group very well, too much for Raisa to keep up with. Mila had tweaked her program a little after her win at Nationals, and she was rewarded with a huge score. Not big enough to win, as Sara beat her, but big enough for silver as Saila dropped a lot and Emily couldn’t quite catch up to Mila.  
Sara and Mila had a blast being soulmates on the podium together. Naturally, the press was interested, but Mila made sure not to say anything about the upcoming Viktuuri baby. Sara followed her lead. Rumors were going to come flying out, of course, but no one would admit to hearing things directly from either Viktor or Yuuri.

Pairs and the exhibition were on the last day. Yakov left early, trusting Yuuri to manage Viktor’s exhibition, which he did beautifully. They were leaving immediately after they got themselves cleaned up, which was hard, because their friends wanted to celebrate with them. “You know, it’s been a while since we’ve messed with each other’s exhibitions…” Viktor said.

“Yeah, I know. What…” Yuuri narrowed his eyes. “You have a plan, don’t you.”

“Yes. At Worlds, we’re both likely candidates for the gold medal, so whichever of us skates last does a special program.”

Yuuri shuddered. “I am not cribbing Misha’s program where he wore the giant baby suit.”

“No. I might, I suppose, but I had something else in mind. They’re going to be after us for an announcement about the baby, but we can put them off until this. Whoever it is starts skating normally, and then the other brings out a baby doll. I’m sure we could find one somewhere.”

“We might be able to borrow one from the triplets. If we do that, though, we need to do a Simba circle of life moment.”

“Would you dress up like Rafiki?”

Yuuri was likely to regret this, but… “If you can get me a Rafiki costume on that short notice, yes, I will dress up like Rafiki.”

 

The final semester for Viktor and Yuuri started on the 2nd, which is why they’d had to leave right after the exhibition. They had one day with Yuri and Yakov before the two of them would leave for Junior Nationals, and then Yakov would go straight from there to meet Yuuri and Viktor in Seoul for Four Continents. Once again, they were missing the second week of school for it.

“Only three more times we’re missing for competition, Yuuri! Can you believe it?”

“Three?”

“Well, assuming Russia and Japan make it to the World Team Trophy, but that’s a pretty safe bet. Those two and America are the safest bets.”

 

Russian Junior Nationals was an unlikely place to run into unwanted relatives or relatives to be. Yuri was able to focus on his skating, and then Yakov had agreed to bring him to Seoul so he wouldn’t have to travel alone. Lev’s current play made a kidnapping unlikely, but this way, Yakov also didn’t have to listen to Yuri complain about missing out.

With the exception of Saviliy, Yuri wasn’t expecting much in the way of competition, and he was right. After the first two groups of skating, there wasn’t a score above 65, and everyone in the last group before Yuri stuck close to that score. Yuri wasn’t going to relax, though. Saviliy could and just might challenge him. He loved his short program, though, and he had a great time on the ice. Almost 78 was good enough for him to get comfortable, even with Saviliy still to skate. Saviliy just barely managed a 76, close but not ahead. The next score down was a 67, so the expected gold and silver medalists were obvious.

Saviliy was not happy. “I should have gone up. Should’ve known.”

“What, that you weren’t gonna be the best in Juniors? Yeah, you should’ve. Taken the chance to do something in seniors while it was open, because year after next, it’ll be me, Viktor, and Georgi for a while.”

“Oh please. I hear Viktor’s planning to retire after this year so he can devote all his time to the baby.”

“What baby?”

“His baby. His _real_ kid.”

Yuri rolled his eyes. “There may not be a baby. Shit can happen early in a pregnancy. If Viktor were planning to retire in two months, I’d know about it, you idiot.”

Saviliy folded his arms and faked a sympathetic face. “Not if Viktor hasn’t told you because he thinks you’ll throw a giant fit about it and refuse to speak to him ever again.”

Yuri rolled his eyes. “Fuck off. Quit being a moron and trying to throw me off. I’m still gonna kick your ass tomorrow.”

 

Despite his confidence, it still rattled Yuri enough that he couldn’t sleep well. He didn’t want to call and interrupt Viktor at practice or in class, so he just had to shove it aside and focus. He could do that. Before Saviliy, the highest score was right at 140, and that with a quad toe loop. Saviliy’s 146 was good, but not nearly as good as Yuri had done at the Grand Prix Finals, so Yuri felt confident as he stepped on the ice. His jumps wobbled a little at first, but he made up for it with some beautiful spins and an excellent performance score. 153 was great, not the best he was capable of, but still excellent.

Saviliy ignored him on the podium and after, which really didn’t bother Yuri a bit. Yuuri was the one to call to congratulate him. “Viktor would tell me if he was thinking about retiring, wouldn’t he?”

“Yes, of course he would, why do you ask?”

Yuri sighed. Of course he was just being stupid. “One of the other competitors said there were rumors that he was retiring after Worlds. Trying to get in my head so he could beat me. It’s nothing.”

“Viktor would tell you, Yuri. You know how awful those rumors about us all can get. I know that he intends to have at least one year with you in seniors, unless there’s some awful injury or something. You’re family. You get talked to about our plans.”

“Thanks. I know I’m just being stupid, but it is kinda plausible that Viktor would be that guy who quits everything else to be a full-time papa, you know?”

“I know, but I don’t think he’s going to unless there’s a good reason. You’ll know, around the same time as Yakov finds out. Who gets told first will probably just depend on which of you he finds first.”

“Yeah. I know. How’s school?”

“Stressful. The last half of the semester is basically going to be preparing for our comprehensive exit exams and then taking them and presenting our final projects. Vitya’s got a bunch of one-time lectures, mostly electives, but still, it’s gonna be confusing for him to keep up with. If you don’t see us in June, it’s because of those comprehensive tests.”

“Heh. You’ll do fine, and then you’re done.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since Evgeny Plushenko doesn't exist in this 'verse, Misha did [this exhibition skate](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g2GnWoghyU) (much to the detriment of Yakov's hair).


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four Continents, Part 1
> 
> Timeline: February 2015

Phichit was uncharacteristically nervous when he met Yuuri and Viktor at the airport in Seoul. “What’s wrong?”

“So far, Seung Gil’s been able to avoid introducing me to his mother, who he says is quite a handful. She’s all the family he has, so there’s no margin for error in screwing this up. If she doesn’t like me…”

Yuuri smothered the urge to smile. “Phichit, is there anyone in the world who doesn’t like you?”

“Park Min So doesn’t like me. She blames me for Seung Gil losing some of his focus. What if his mom agrees with Min So? What if she blames me for the fact that Seung Gil hasn’t introduced us yet? It was all his idea, I’d have been happy to meet her earlier, but she might not believe that.”

Yuuri hugged Phichit. “What if she’s delighted to meet the guy who’s made her son happy? Helped him find something outside of skating to smile about? I don’t see Seung Gil letting his mom come between the two of you.”

“But I don’t want to cause problems for him with his mom, either, she’s his whole family!”

“It’ll be fine, Phichit. Seung Gil’s a big boy, he can take care of himself. When are you meeting her?”

“They’re waiting for me at the hotel.” Phichit blew out a long breath. “Okay. I can do this. I can meet his mother and convince her that I’m good for Seung Gil.”

“Yes, you can. Come on, let’s go get you there to do that.”

 

Phichit called late that night. “Okay, so, that did not go how I’d thought it would.”

“Uh-oh.” Yuuri put it on speaker so Viktor could hear too. “Good way or bad?”

“Well, she loves me. She thinks I’m sunshine personified or something like that.”

“Okay, well, that’s good, right?”

“I was worried that she’d think I wasn’t good enough for Seung Gil because I don’t take things seriously or whatever. She spent the entire time we were together criticizing Seung Gil for being who he is, how can someone as boring as him ever be good enough for me? I don’t get it. Seung Gil argued with her a little, but never really tried to fight back, and it sounded like he was just plain tired of the argument. Why would she be like that?”

“Not everyone behaves the way we think they should. I don’t know Seung Gil’s mom at all, I don’t even know Seung Gil that well, but it’s probably some weird version of wanting Seung Gil to be happy?” Viktor suggested. “A lot of people are weirded out by the idea of the two of you being soulmates because you’re so different, and it could be that she doesn’t believe you’ll stick around.”

“Maybe. Anyway. It’s done, Seung Gil says he’s fine and not to worry about it, so… I’m gonna try to do that. Thanks for listening, earlier.” Phichit hung up.

Yuuri dropped his phone back into his pocket and cuddled up to Viktor. “I know your parents would have supported anything you did to be with me, because of the soulmate thing, but do you think they would have liked me?”

“My parents would have loved you. They’d probably have had some doubts at first, with us competing against each other and you being Japanese – not that they had a problem with foreigners in general, just worried about how well we’d be able to bridge the different cultures and languages. Once they got to know you, see how happy we were together, those doubts would have disappeared.”

“That’s good to know. I wish I’d gotten that chance.”

 

Seung Gil organized the traditional shopping and sightseeing expedition for the group – he wasn’t from Seoul, but had come here so often for interviews and the like that he knew the city reasonably well. There was a bit of swearing when they spotted Lev at a baby store. “What’s he even doing here? I’m not skating, this is way the hell out of his way, where’s his girl?” Yuri asked.

“Well, we do know that he likes to watch skating, and… maybe she didn’t come because of the pregnancy? That’s why Mari’s not here, she doesn’t want to travel right now,” Yuuri said. “We’ll keep an eye out for him, but he’s probably just here to check out the pretty girls.”

“Even though he has a fiancée?” Yuri said. “Gross.”

“Others’ relationships aren’t our place to judge, Yuri, even Lev and Romana. If he’s cheating, that’s one thing, but if he’s just looking… and she may well know he likes to look at other women.”

Yuri made a face. “What’s better for the kid, if I find a way to get Lev out of its life before he can fuck this one up too, or giving Lev a chance to actually be a dad if he goes through with it?”

“I don’t know. Most of the time, I’d say that kids deserve to have their parents in their lives, but with Lev’s history…” Yuuri shrugged. “Honestly, it’s up to Romana, not you. She wants Lev involved and believes he will be. Not much you can do.”

 

Skating began with ice dance. Yuuri and Viktor didn’t know any of the skaters, so they basically ignored it. Pairs was different, Yuri wanted to go watch Stas and Salomat, who finished in fourth for the short program, behind two American teams and a Canadian team. After the first three groups of the mens’ skate, the highlight was Seung Gil, who had been the only skater to break 80. That score held up until the end of the fourth group, when JJ got an 87. Bin and Paul both beat that, with Bin getting into the 90s, while Sachio and Jude both ended up behind JJ.

Phichit walked out with Yuuri, since they were the last two skaters. Yuuri would be up first, and he focused on setting himself up for a 300 overall score. His opening jump went well, and his step sequence was brilliant. When he got to the triple axel at the end of his program, he felt great, and he poured that into the jump. It might not be enough for the 100, but he had a shot.

It wasn’t enough for the 100. 98 was still amazing, and Yuuri would gladly take it. It was the free skate he was concentrating on more anyway, wanting that 200 he and Viktor hadn’t quite gotten to yet. Phichit’s score was also good, putting him just above Seung Gil but not into the final group.

“Rumors have started that there is a baby, and now your sister isn’t here despite Korea being very close to Japan and you and Bin being here and on top.”

Yuuri sighed. “As Viktor said at Europeans, we will not be making any public announcements about the possibility of a pregnancy until Worlds at the earliest. You guys can treat it as Schrodinger’s Baby until we’re ready to make that announcement, but we will not be confirming or denying rumors. The rumors exist. No point denying that. As for the baby, you’ll just have to wait until you hear something official.”

The press conference was short after that, as Morooka had a couple questions about skating and some of the other reporters asked about summer plans. Everyone else got nothing, as they tried to ask about the baby and got stonewalled. “I know, our baby is going to be a huge story, and I feel very sorry for the kid given what they’ll have to grow up with,” Yuuri said after making his escape.

“We’ll do everything we can to keep them out of the press, but you know how I am about not talking about things,” Viktor said. “There is no way I will be able to keep from gushing about how our adorable child started babbling or walking or smiling or whatever else cute happens.”


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four Continents Free Skates. Bad news strikes. :(

Day two started with the free dance, which Viktor and Yuuri skipped in favor of hanging out with Yuuko, Takeshi, Minako, and the triplets until Yuuko needed to leave for the ladies’ short program. The videos had helped Loop, and now she was just as enthusiastic about skating as the other two. The triplets were also very opinionated on which of their dolls would be the best option for announcing their new cousin Nikiforov style.

“Mom? Is it a boy or a girl?” Loop asked.

Yuuko shrugged. “We don’t know yet, honey. They can’t even guess until the baby’s big enough, and even then, it’s not always perfect. Plus, not everyone wants to know ahead of time. Why?”

“Because if we knew then we could use a boy doll for a boy baby or a girl doll for a girl baby.”

“Oh.” Yuuko smiled and turned to Yuuri and Viktor. “Well, we don’t know yet, but do you guys have a preference between a boy doll and a girl doll?”

“No, but the press is going to read into whichever one we go with, aren’t they. If we guess right, we somehow knew, and if we guess wrong, it’s because we wanted the one we didn’t get.” Yuuri facepalmed with a groan. “Is there really that much difference in dolls that you can’t just say it’s a baby?”

“No, I bet we can make it work,” Axel said. “We got this!”

 

They didn’t have time to get much settled before they had to leave for the ladies’ skate. Going into the final group, Kei had a strong lead over China’s newcomer Ling. Cathy was able to beat her, but not by much. Sako had a good skate, putting her within a few tenths of Kei, and then Skye took the lead, which Yuuko couldn’t quite take from her. The top five was entirely America and Japan, and only three points separated them.

The pairs skated first on day 3. Stas and Salomat ended up dropping to fifth, behind the Japanese pair. There were some mild shakeups in the early groups of the men’s, including Masaki moving his way into the top ten and Phichit and Seung Gil trading places. Jude kicked the final group off with a bang, putting up a great score that meant he would finish ahead of Sachio. JJ nearly caught him, and then Paul had a nasty fall on a quad toe loop that left him shaken up as he finished his program. He was, at least, able to finish, but it dropped him to fourth and guaranteed JJ a medal. Yuuri was very glad Bin had to skate before him, so he could focus on imagining what Yuri had to say about JJ medaling instead of focusing on what had just happened to Paul. Bin did well, shaking off any nerves he had from Paul’s skate, putting up a 187 to most likely earn silver.

Yuuri’s program started out well. He wasn’t as good as Viktor at guessing scores, but as he moved into the second half of the program, he had a good feeling about his chances. After a huge triple axel and a very clean choreographic sequence, Yuuri was sure he had a chance. All he had to do was land the quad toe loop at the end.

Technically, landing it on his butt was still a landing, but not the landing he needed. He was able to get back up and finish strong, but he’d lost 200. When he skated over to the Kiss and Cry, he was not looking forward to hearing from Yakov.

“Let me guess. You were thinking about breaking 200, and you got distracted,” Yakov said.

“Yes, Coach. That’s exactly what happened.”

“At least you got the rotations in. You still win this easily, but you’re not getting 200. You can’t let yourself get distracted when you’re out there! Pay attention to what you’re doing, and let the judges worry about the scores!”

Yuuri nodded, and Yakov went into some more technical advice while they waited for the score. 195. If he’d landed the quad, he’d have had 200. The frustration was palpable.

While ranting to Otabek, something occurred to Yuri. “What happened to you getting to go if you made Finals? You made Finals, you’re not here…”

“Alain and Nathalie made me withdraw when I got the flu last week. They didn’t think I’d be well enough to fly to Korea. I thought I’d told you.”

“You’d told me about the flu and how you were frustrated with Alain and Nathalie over it, but I don’t think you said you were withdrawing. Maybe I missed it. That sucks.”

“Yeah. I should be there next year.”

“Moving up to seniors?”

“Yes. I’m old enough, I’m good enough, and Kazakhstan needs the exposure.”

“Good. You’re gonna kick ass. Can’t wait to see you on the podium at Worlds.”

“I’m not that good. Yet. Viktor and Yuuri are both well above me, and I don’t think I can beat Chris, Paul, Bin, and everyone else for bronze.”

“Nah. You’ll be on the podium. Make Kazakhstan proud.”

“If you say so.”

 

Since, for once, Valentine’s Day cooperated with skating schedules, Viktor and Yuuri went out on the town by themselves for once. They could celebrate the gold medal and enjoy the romantic holiday, they could eat the chocolates that Yuuko had brought them from Hasetsu and that Viktor had made for Yuuri and smuggled along with them, and call Chris to wish him a happy birthday.

Skye and Paul were in the lobby when they got back, and Skye was crying. Paul waved to them, so Yuuri and Viktor decided to go over. “What’s wrong?”

“Celestino sent me to medical after my skate, and I’m not skating at Worlds. Torn ligaments. I’m having surgery when we get back to Detroit, but they said there’s a chance I might not be able to skate at this level again. And, well, twenty-four’s a little young to retire but not unreasonably so, if I’m gonna be worrying about reinjuring my knee every time I step out on the ice, right? Skye’s not happy at the thought of me retiring before her, like this.”

“No one’s happy when someone retires like this,” Viktor said, and Yuuri agreed. “I know you have to do what’s best for you, but I really hope to see you on the ice next season.”

 

The final day was devoted to the ladies’ free skate and the exhibition. Kei managed to overtake Cathy to claim bronze, but Skye shoved aside her feelings about Paul’s misfortune, or channeled them into her skate, and held off Yuuko for the gold.


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> International Challenge Cup. Yuri gets to spend some time with friends and deal with an asshole.
> 
> Timeline: February 2015

There were a couple days to breathe between competitions, and this time, it was only Yuri going. The news out of America was not good – Paul was going to face some major rehab to get back into competition, and it wouldn’t happen in time for the Grand Prix or the Challenger Series. If he was lucky, he’d make it back for Nationals; if he couldn’t do that, he intended to retire. While he was rehabbing, he’d spend the time figuring out what to do with his retirement – after all, even if he did come back from this injury, he’d retire eventually.

When Yuri got to The Hague, he was not in a great mood, thanks to a bad flight. Seeing Lev at the airport didn’t improve matters. At least Lev didn’t see him, but still, just knowing he was there was bad enough. Then the hotel was swarming with Angels. He got to his room, leaving Yakov to make sure the staff understood the importance of keeping Yuri’s room number an absolute secret, and collapsed face-first onto the bed.

The knock on the door almost immediately afterward was not welcome. “Go away!”

“No.”

Yuri recognized the voice immediately and got up to open the door. “Sorry, Cécile. Bad day. Too many people I don’t want to see.”

Cécile and Julien came in, and Cécile hugged Yuri. “I figured. Yakov nearly took my head off when I asked if he would give me your room number, but then he recognized me. Dariya hasn’t made it in yet. Probably won’t until late.”

“Well, that sucks. I take it JJ didn’t come?”

“Nah. School. Same for Otabek – he wanted to, especially since he didn’t go to Four Continents, but Mom and Dad wouldn’t let him miss that much for no good reason.”

“This is one reason I’m glad Yakov doesn’t make us go to school. Tutoring is so much easier because I can study when I want and I don’t have to deal with time when I’m stuck in school but I’ve already finished or I need help and the teacher’s busy.”

“Yeah, but with tutoring, you miss out on the fun parts of school, like making friends and discovering that one teacher who just gets you and being in the school play. It’s not all bad. JJ even runs track on the school team.”

“Why?”

“His friends are on the track team, and the coaches accept that he’ll miss a couple competitions. He’s good. Not consider switching sports good, but for high school, good enough for the coaches to deal with him skipping.”

“Huh. You don’t run?”

“Nah. I’m a band nerd. All about the music. When I get into high school I might have some trouble because I’ll miss football games, but still, it’s worth it to get to play.”

“What do you play?”

“In band? Percussion. I’ve also been taking piano lessons for years, and just started guitar last year. Andrée calls me a one-woman rock band.”

“What about you, Julien?” Yuri asked.

“I don’t know yet. I’m trying to convince Mom that it’s okay not to be in extracurricular activities at school, given my skating. I may end up joining something just to make her happy, but all I really want to do is learn. Once I get into high school, I’m gonna check out some of those online classes things and see what looks like fun.”

“You are such a nerd,” Cécile teased.

“So? I’m happy. What’s so wrong with that?”

“Nothing. If your mom does make you join something, what would you join, though?”

Julien shrugged. “Chorus maybe. My friend Alex is a really good singer and he’s going to join the chorus, so at least I’d have a friend there. Otabek’s not doing anything, but Otabek’s not planning on going to university in Canada, and anyway, he’s not their kid.”

“He’s not?” Yuri was sure he’d heard Otabek talk about going to university, so…

“Nope. If he ends up staying in Canada, he wants to focus on his skating, and if his soulmate’s not in Canada, he’s not going to stay once he finishes high school.”

“Oh.” Fair enough, really.

 

After Yuri got back to the hotel, Dariya texted him a room number where she and the fun LeRoys were hanging out. When Yuri got there, Dariya greeted him with a hug and a smack. “Your fans are nuts, you know that, right?”

“ _Yes_. What did they do this time?”

“I got here at one o’clock. There was a boy claiming to be your soulmate. He said he had proof and demanded to know your room number or phone number so he could show you.” Dariya shuddered. “If Dad hadn’t come over, I think he’d have really hit me when I told him to go to hell.”

“What the fuck. He show you his proof?”

“Nope. Said he’d only show you. This is not helping my case to go abroad with Beka when I’m thirteen!”

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I wish I could control them, but given the crap Lev pulls and that he’s their founder…”

“Yeah, I know, it’s not your fault. I know Phichit’s doing his best, and the Hamsters are looking out for us, but still. Your fans are nuts. I’m not blaming you for any of this, just thought you’d want to know about Crazy Guy.”

 

Skating started with the novice boys, in which Julien easily took first for the short program, eight points ahead of the second-place boy. Cécile immediately took an equally commanding lead in the girls’, with Dariya in fourth. Junior men skated next. The field was twice the size of the novices, at ten, and Yuri was skating ninth. There were several scores around 50 when Yuri took the ice, but nothing he couldn’t beat with one arm tied behind his back.

Yakov would’ve killed him if he’d tried it literally, but it was an amusing mental image. He was not expecting a great score, not by his standards, since he had no intention of pushing himself too hard with Junior Worlds coming up. Yakov might give him grief for it, but he turned in a clean program for a 75.

“You were holding back. Why?”

“I’m doing this one for fun and for the money, and I’ve got a 25 point lead unless this Dutch kid does something big. If I’m going to hurt myself, I at least want it to be in a competition that matters to anyone but me. Paul going down at Four Continents sucked, but at least it wasn’t one of the Challenger Series he did.”

Yakov snorted. “Fair enough. Just don’t get lazy.”

“I don’t have time for that. Junior Worlds is too close.”

The Dutch kid did do something big. Adriaan got a 62, almost halving Yuri’s lead. 13 points was still nothing to worry about, not with Yuri having a strong free skate.

 

As they headed out to dinner, Dariya stopped and grabbed Yuri’s arm. “Congratulations, this is officially a nightmare. See that guy talking to Lev?”

Yuri groaned. “That’s my alleged soulmate with proof?”

“Yep. Any idea what it is?”

“Not sure there’s anything he could say that would convince me, because with a few exceptions, I’d have told people not to show up until I was sixteen. Most of those exceptions aren’t old enough to know, either.” Yuri scoffed. “Besides, if he’s really my soulmate, or even so obsessed with me he thinks he can fool me, he’d know that the worst possible thing he could do to prove his case would be to be anywhere near Lev.”

“Either way, we should probably get out of here before they see us,” Cécile said. “Come on.”

 

Julien and Cécile both extended their leads in the free skate, claiming matching golds. Dariya moved up to take bronze, leading to a very happy podium. Once again, Yuri got to watch as none of the junior men’s skaters got anywhere near his potential. Adriaan was the only skater to break 100, and even he only got 110. Yuri took it easy, just making sure to be clean and perform well, and even so, it was enough for 145. “Are you sure you want to come back next year?” Yakov asked.

“Probably. It’s still fun, and it’s worth it.”

This time, on the way out to dinner, Yuri’s alleged soulmate approached them. “Yuri! I’ve been looking all over for you!”

“Yeah, there’s a reason I’m hard to find, my fans are obsessive and I have a stalker,” Yuri snapped. “You’re an idiot and this isn’t going to work, so fuck off.”

“But… you’re my soulmate…”

“In which case, I’d have given you very specific instructions for how to find me. By which I mean, I’d have told you not to yet. So either you’re lying or you’re starting our relationship by completely ignoring what I want, so either way, _fuck off_.” Yuri turned and stalked away. If he had a tail like Potya, it would be swishing.

“But… soulmate!” the guy yelled after him.

Yuri stopped and turned around, shaking off Cécile’s hand trying to stop him. “Do I look like Viktor Katsuki-Nikiforov to you? I don’t care! If you’re my soulmate, you are a complete asshole, and I don’t want to deal with you.” This time, he let Yakov pull him away and ignored anything else.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fallout and Yuri's birthday.
> 
> Timeline: end of February-March 1, 2015

Naturally, it exploded. Yuri hadn’t even made it back to the hotel before Phichit and Isaak were calling. With their guidance, Yuri wrote a statement to put on his social media.

**Many of you have seen or heard rumors about my confrontation with a young man claiming to be my soulmate. To be perfectly clear: with a very few exceptions, if I show up in someone’s dream before I’m sixteen, I’ll be telling them to wait, and giving them very specific instructions for how to approach me then. The exceptions are people who are already friends of mine who will be turning eighteen when I’m fifteen. For them, I might be willing to say close enough, tell me right away.**   
**I care very much about meeting my soulmate, but I do not feel obligated to give my soulmate a chance just because they show up and say so. If this person really were my soulmate, he would have already shown a lack of interest in what I want and where my boundaries are. If he is my soulmate and comes back when I’m sixteen and shows that he understands why this was wrong, I will give him a chance then.**   
**As a reminder to my fans, I am a human being. I appreciate the support and the love you guys have shown, but there are some creepy people who have crossed lines. Because of that, I’m going to be cautious about my soulmate, or any strangers approaching me. If you have a reason, go through my publicist or my coach.**

Yuuri called almost immediately after that went up. “Are you okay, Yuri? I can’t imagine how annoying that must have been.”

“I’m fine. If your husband’s going to give me crap about not giving the asshole a chance, tell him he harassed Dariya and we saw him talking to Lev. He’s not even a good fake.”

“Vitya was more worried about your attitude toward soulmates in general than your interest in this specific one. He’s fine now. Don’t worry about him.”

Yuri sighed in relief. Viktor wasn't mad at him for running away. “I wasn’t. I get to decide how to handle my soulmate.”

“Yes, but I’d hate to see you and Vitya get into fights over it. So who are these exceptions who get to come early?”

“Mila, Emil, Beka, and Guang Hong. Everyone else is either too old or young enough that I’d be sixteen by the time they know anyway. Yeah, I know, Mila and Emil already have soulmates, but some people have two. Sara and Michele wouldn’t have found out if I’m not their soulmate too, and if I am, I'd probably have told them to wait for sixteen anyway. Like I said. They’re already friends, and none of them would pull that kind of crap on me.”

“True. Okay.”

“Yuuri? What if this guy really is my soulmate?” He probably wasn't, but... he'd claimed to have proof. What if his soulmate really was the kind of asshole who would ignore his instructions to leave him alone?

“Then if he comes back when you’re ready for him to and apologizes for his shitty behavior, you give him a chance, and if he doesn’t, you get on with your life grateful to have dodged that bullet. Mari will be happy to give you whatever advice you need for dealing with judgmental assholes.”

“Heh. I think I can handle that by myself, but thanks.” He wasn’t really worried about that part of it. Having a good soulmate would be great, but having a bad soulmate would be worse than being alone all along.

 

With this shadow hanging over him, Yuri fully expected his birthday to suck. At least he’d be home and could celebrate with his rinkmates for once. He thought. When Yakov handed him a plane ticket for the 28th, Yuri was pissed. “Why are we leaving so early?”

“Look at where you’re going before you throw a fit.”

Yuri rolled his eyes and looked. Obviously it was Tallinn… except it wasn’t. “Moscow?”

“We’ll leave Moscow straight for Tallinn, but I thought you might like to spend your birthday with your grandfather. Viktor, Yuuri, Georgi, and Mila are all coming with us to Moscow, and then they’ll come back here for school and training for their Worlds.”

“Thanks, Yakov!” Yuri hugged his coach and ran off to finish packing.

 

Seeing his grandfather was the best birthday present ever, except that it got even better. Boris and Irina had come, bringing Natasha and Katya. Boris and Irina, who cared, but getting to see Natasha was always amazing, and Katya had gotten a lot happier since Christmas.

“Are you a Hobbit now?” Nikolai teased when he found Yuri digging through his old toybox.

“Sure, why not?” Yuri pushed his hair back out of his face as he dug. “I’m not using them anymore, and Mama already said it was okay as long as it was small enough to pack, so I don’t care that I’m supposed to be the one getting presents today.”

“Good boy. I’m proud of you for this. How are things going with that boy who claimed to be your soulmate?”

“Eh.” Yuri shrugged. “There are a lot of people defending me, but there are some people who are saying I should have at least heard him out, listened to whatever his bullshit proof was.”

“And you’re happy with how your publicist has handled things?”

Yuri looked up, head tilted. “Yeah, why? Is there something else you think we should be doing?”

“No, it’s just… there have been a couple cases where Isaak Shulichenko failed to protect younger clients from their soulmates, whether real or fake. Between Phichit, Lilia, and Yasha, I’m not worried about you running into trouble, but if Isaak is being trouble, just be aware of that. Don’t be afraid to call me for help, or to look for a different publicist if you don’t feel Isaak is looking out for you the way you deserve.”

“Huh. He’s been fine, really. Maybe he learned from those earlier experiences, or maybe he knows that if I leave chances are Viktor walks out right behind me and doesn’t want to lose that.”

Eventually, he found the toys he was looking for – a Russian alphabet book for Natasha, and a doll for Katya. The girls both loved their new toys, and the chance to spend the day playing with their big brother. Then they were all on the same flight to Tallinn, and Irina agreed to rearrange seating so that Yuri could sit between his sisters on the flight.


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Junior Worlds. Watch out for llama droppings.
> 
> Timeline: early March 2015

Yuri’s good birthday continued on the ground in Tallinn, where the ambush as he approached the hotel was much more welcome than usual. Otabek met him outside, wearing his new biker gear. “Once you’ve gotten checked in and dropped off your stuff, some of us have taken over the pool for a birthday party for you. Pretend to be surprised. I’m supposed to just be inviting you to come swimming for the heck of it, but after the idiot at the Challenge Cup, seems to me like you’ve had enough random people shouting at you.”

Yuri grinned. “Yeah, but depending on who all is there, it may not be random, right? It’s different when it’s friends.”

“Not sure you’d recognize Emil’s voice. I swear he’s grown ten centimeters since Finals, and he’s got stubble.”

“Seriously? Wow. How much do you hate him right now?”

“Not much, really. I’m never going to get tall, and I’m not sure I want to deal with shaving or trimming a beard. Besides, that much growth, you know his balance is gonna be off, and now?”

“Any idea if he’s going to seniors next year?”

“I think so. He wants to skate against Michele, and he’s good enough to make it. Haven’t asked him, though.”

Yuri didn’t take long to drop off his bags and get to the pool, where as promised everyone shouted surprise. He was grateful for Otabek’s warning about Emil; he wouldn’t have recognized the voice and it would’ve taken a minute to place the face. Leo, Guang Hong, Kenjirou, and Richard were the other ones involved. “Thanks, guys. This is amazing.”

“You’re welcome! Look, the hotel even provided a cake, and since we’re not skating until the last couple days, it’s probably okay to cheat that much.” Richard took Yuri’s hand and dragged him over to a table with a small pile of presents and a cake with a single candle. Yuri blew it out quickly so that they could devour the cake before any of their coaches saw it.

The presents were mostly silly stuff. Yuri’s favorite was from Richard, who had bought a spray bottle, filled it with water, and made a label that read “Lion Repellant”. Once Yuri had finished laughing, he said, “Thanks, you guys. This is hilarious.”

“I’m in love with the image of you spraying Lev in the face with water like he’s a naughty kitten,” Leo said. “If you ever have cause and opportunity, aim for the eyes.”

 

The first two days of competition didn’t involve the men, so Yuri spent as much of them as he could stand in his room, avoiding Lev, Angels, and potential fake soulmates. He did join the others for laser tag, and Irina was able to convince him to come on a shopping trip with the family. Richard and Otabek, who were hanging out with Yuri at the time, were invited as well.

As they left an art gallery, Yuri stopped short and grabbed Boris’s arm. “We have a huge problem.”

Boris looked where Yuri was pointing, and swore under his breath when he saw Lev and Romana. “Okay. Get Irishka and go… _fuck_.” Irina dropped Natasha’s hand and started stalking down the street. “Change of plans. Grab your friends and your sisters and get them the hell out of here. The girls don’t need to see this. I’ll text you when the coast is clear.”

Yuri picked up a confused Natasha, and Richard took the stroller Boris shoved at him, equally confused. Otabek took the lead, using his tendency to look intimidating to get people out of the way, and Richard and Yuri kept up as best they could. Once they were around a corner, Yuri pointed out a café on the other side of the road down the street. “Let’s get some tea and wait for them there.”

“What just happened?” Richard asked.

“Mama spotted Lev and his new fiancée. I don’t know what she’s doing, but whatever it is, it probably means she looks like a psycho to people who don’t know the story.” Yuri hugged Natasha. “Mama’s not a psycho. Lev hurt her really badly, in a way that’s hard to get over. Do you remember Lev?”

Natasha tilted her head, thinking hard. Then her eyes lit up. “Asshole!”

Yuri choked on his tea as he tried to laugh and sip at the same time. “Yep. That’s him. Mama will be proud.”

It took nearly thirty minutes before Boris called. “Irishka’s back at the hotel. I feel bad for that poor kid, she’s got terrible judgment but she didn’t deserve this. You will almost certainly be asked about this incident, so the short version: she started off yelling at Lev for dragging some kid into his bullshit, Romana said Lev wasn’t dragging her into anything, and then your mama started calling Romana, basically, a whore. I’m getting my people on spinning this to the best of our ability, but you’ll probably want to contact Isaak and Phichit and let them know what’s happening. Where are you guys?”

“We’re at a café having tea. Are you going to come get us or should we find our own way back?”

“You have money to cover the tea?”

“Yeah.”

“Go ahead and get yourselves back, then. I need to wake some people up in New York.”

 

The fallout for Yuri was surprisingly low. Lev made some statements about being glad Yuri spent most of his time with Yakov instead of Irina, and this actually swung some of the people who were on the fence to support Yuri and his lashing out at the likely-false soulmate – if that was the kind of example he had, no wonder he wasn’t interested in dealing with his soulbond just yet. He was even being called a good brother for getting his sisters out of there before Irina started screaming.

“Your mother is a crazy bitch,” Saviliy informed him in the locker room as they got ready to compete. “Guess it runs in the family?”

Yuri ignored the taunt directed at him. “Mama’s only crazy when it comes to Lev, and I don’t blame her for that. If you’re trying to throw me off, just remember how well it worked at Nationals. I’m gonna kick your ass again, and the angrier I get, the better I skate this program.”

It was a long wait for them to get to a skater Yuri cared about. Richard was in the fifth group out of seven, and he did well, setting a strong bar for the last two groups. He was, much to his annoyance, beaten by Matthieu, by two points. Matthieu held the lead when the last group started. Emil looked mostly good, but his balance was just a little off, and it showed. He beat Matthieu, but only barely. Otabek and Leo both skated well, Leo becoming the first skater to break 75.

Yakov stared down Yuri. “You have competition here. No taking it easy.”

“No, sir.” Yuri skated off, and put the advice to work immediately with a big triple axel. As promised, he didn’t hold back at all, and letting the anger and the frustration out as a Valkyrie choosing the honored dead helped him elevate his performance. As he pulled out of a beautiful sit spin to end the program, he had a great feeling about his score. It paid off, too. Yakov hugged him when the 80 went up. “For a senior, that’s a great score. For a junior, that is an unbelievable score! Don’t celebrate too much, you still have to skate tomorrow, but enjoy this.”

Saviliy looked a bit less than impressive as he skated, and he ended up behind Leo. Guang Hong had to skate last. He placed fifth, between Otabek and Emil.

 

The men’s free skate was the last event. Things had been quiet, allowing Yuri to focus and relax and prepare himself for this skate. This one, anger wouldn’t suit him as well for. Brunnhilde was a badass, but she wasn’t an angry one. She was also a bit of an idiot, killing herself for some dude, but at least she was a badass about it.

Once again, Richard was the first skater Yuri cared enough about to pay attention to. His program went well, getting him over 130. He still ended up behind Matthieu, though, to his irritation. Emil’s balance was a little better that day, and he ended up ahead of Guang Hong, but with plenty of room for the leaders to stay above him. Otabek’s skate started off badly, as he fell on his quad. Saviliy landed his, meaning that he was guaranteed a medal. Well, Russia would be happy with two medalists, at least, even if Yuri was not looking forward to this podium. He’d prefer Otabek to Leo, but when Leo’s 147 beat Saviliy without a quad, the look on Saviliy’s face was well worth it.

Once again, Yuri started out strong, landing his combination and his triple axel. A combination spin gave him a chance to really show off, and Yuri kept his strong performance going. This was going at least as well as the Grand Prix Finals, maybe better. When he skated over to Yakov, he was exhausted, but it felt like it had been worth it.

“Saviliy used a quad and got third. I don’t see any way you end up below Leo. Once again, my skaters prove you don’t need a quad to win in Juniors.”

Yakov was right. Yuri beat his score from the Finals, putting up a 154. Way better than Viktor had ever done in Juniors. Halfway through his Juniors career, Yuri already felt very good about it.


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuri gets home and it's the last thing he could have ever expected.

When Yuri got back to Saint Petersburg, he could feel that something was dreadfully wrong. He told himself it was just that his mother was crazy, his best friend was in Canada, and his adorable sisters were in Spain, but it didn’t help him shake the feeling. He didn’t stay long at Yakov and Lilia’s, just long enough to dump off his bags. He didn’t even bother unpacking his costumes – the season was over for him, he wasn’t going to reuse those costumes, why bother? He did take the hint of Potya sleeping in his carrier and grab that, along with an overnight bag.

The feeling got worse when Makkachin and Vicchan met him halfway down the street to Viktor and Yuuri’s. Why were the dogs out on their own? For all Viktor’s airheadedness, he never left the dogs unsupervised if the gate was open. In Hasetsu, they could let the dogs run – it was a small town, there were few strangers who wouldn’t know exactly whose dogs they were, there were lots of open areas, and the poodles were smart enough to find their way home – but this was Saint Petersburg. Too much chance of the dogs getting into traffic or into trouble.

Makkachin’s bark at the front door brought Viktor, and now Yuri was seriously worried. Viktor looked like crap. His hair was dirty, his clothes looked like they’d been slept in, except from the bags under Viktor’s eyes they can’t have been because Viktor probably hadn’t slept in a long time. Instead of the enthusiastic hug and effusive congratulations Yuri had expected to endure, Viktor just stepped aside. “Welcome home. Congratulations on your gold, perfect season, right?”

“Right… is this a bad time? Should I go back to Lilia’s?” Yuri looked past Viktor. If the old man looked like this, how bad off was Yuuri? What was happening?

“No, no, this is your home, too.” Viktor motioned him in, and Yuri came in. “Besides, you have Potya, and I think Makkachin would be mad at me too if I sent Potya away without the chance to have a nap cuddle pile.” Makkachin barked and jumped up on Viktor to lick his face. She then shot a look at Yuri, eyes begging him to stay.

Yuri set the carrier down and opened it so Potya could come say hi to his poodle besties. “Mad at you too? Makkachin’s mad at someone?”

“No. Not that I know of.” Viktor headed for the couch, Yuri following.

Yuri’s jaw dropped when he saw the couch. There was a pillow and a couple blankets thrown to one side. “Viktor, what… is Yuuri…” Yuri’s brain rebelled at the thought that Yuuri was mad enough at Viktor to make him sleep on the couch. Those two just didn’t fight like that. “Is Yuuri sick?” They wouldn’t have told Yuri and spoiled his competition. It was the only thing Yuri could think of.

Viktor’s eyes filled with tears. “No, he’s fine, he might even be happy to see you if you want to go try. Good luck.”

Yuri turned and walked upstairs. His brain was still refusing to accept the possibility of Viktor and Yuuri fighting like this. There had to be a better explanation. Mari…? He knocked at Yuuri’s door.

Yuuri looked even worse than Viktor. On the other hand, Yuuri looking bad was less of a surprise, he had a tendency to not care most of the time. “Yuri! Hi. Give me a second, let me finish this paragraph?”

“Sure.” Yuri came in and sat on the bed. He rolled his eyes when he noticed the pillow and blankets building a nest on the ground. “Seriously, neither of you are sleeping in the bed? Yakov is going to kill you both when you show up to practice tomorrow.”

“He wouldn’t. He’d decide which of us to blame and kill that one. He wouldn’t leave our kid an orphan before it’s even born.” Yuuri finished writing and slammed the book closed. “Because everything’s about the baby now.”

Uh-oh. That didn’t sound good. “I thought you were excited about the baby.”

“I am! I’m looking forward to being a parent! It’s just that the kid won’t even be born until September, and won’t be coming here until April, so I don’t see the point in getting too ahead of ourselves when we’ve still got school to finish.” Yuuri fidgeted a little. “I’m sorry, Yuri. Congratulations on your gold medal. I’m so proud of you.”

“Yeah, thanks. Seriously, you and Viktor are fighting?”

Yuuri sighed. “Yes, we are. I’m sorry. You don’t deserve to get stuck in the middle of this. If you want to go back to Lilia’s…”

“The dogs would kill me. I brought Potya.” Yuri scooted forward. “You guys aren’t breaking up, are you?”

“No!” Yuuri’s hands flew to his mouth, and his eyes started to tear up. “You don’t… why would you think that?”

“Well, you’re sleeping on different floors, you both look like hell, you’re actually _fighting_ … but then again, you’re soulmates and that means so much to you guys, so I don’t know what to think. In case you’ve forgotten, take a look at my family. This isn’t exactly something I understand.”

Yuuri got up and hugged Yuri. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I can’t speak for Vitya, but the only thing that’s stopping me from going downstairs and hugging him and begging for him forgiveness is my stubbornness. I’m not mad at him anymore.”

“What _happened_ , though?”

“I had an exam at school that I did horribly on – actually failed, not my usual definition of horrible – and Vitya’s idea for how to cheer me up was to start working on converting his old room to a nursery. I didn’t want to – we have over a year, after all – and we got into a fight where Viktor accused me of caring more about school than our kid and I accused him of not caring about school at all. You know how dramatic Viktor can get, so when he stormed out and said he was sleeping on the couch until I got my priorities straight, I didn’t believe him. And you know how stubborn I am, so I haven’t reached out to him.”

“In other words, you are both complete fucking idiots.” Yuri would have thrown a pillow if there were one within reach. He could not believe these two assholes were really like this.

Yuuri’s eyes flashed, but then he smiled. “In other words, we are both complete fucking idiots. That’s fair. I’m going to go apologize and hope he’s ready to work through this. You might not want to go downstairs for the next half hour or so…”

Yuri gagged. “Thank you so much, I couldn’t possibly have figured that out myself _without_ the need for brain bleach.” He was going to give them an hour. Just to be safe. “Good luck.”

 

That night, as Viktor and Yuuri made their bed, Yuuri dropped his side of the blanket. “Can we talk about it?”

Viktor smothered a yawn, but put the blanket down and walked around to hug Yuuri. “I know you care about our baby, Yuuri.”

Yuuri hugged back, and then pulled away enough that he could look at Viktor. “That’s good, but that wasn’t ever really a question, was it? I don’t understand why it bothered you so much that I want to focus on school for now. Mari’s doing all the work right now, there’s not really anything we can to do help her, and if she does need help she’s surrounded by support. Mom and Dad, Minako, the Nishigoris, even Yuuko’s mom will forget all the bullshit if Mari needs something.”

“Ever since we got the word from Mari, I’ve been so focused on the baby that nothing else seems important. Even skating. If I had to give it up for the baby, I’d do it without a second thought. You’re absolutely right. I don’t care about school anymore. I never needed a degree for anything, with a kid I don’t have to worry about getting drafted, so if I fail all my classes this semester I don’t care. You and I are so often in sync, it never occurred to me that your priorities might be different.”

Yuuri opened his mouth to interrupt, but Viktor put a finger to his lips. “But I’ve had time to think over the past couple days, and I should know that your degree matters to you. It doesn’t mean you don’t care about the baby, or even that the degree is more important than the baby, it just means that for now you have to keep working hard for the degree because if you don’t, you might not get it. We can work on the nursery this summer and fall, and even if something happens and we have to bring the baby home earlier than expected we’ll have time. I’m sorry for the things I said in the fight, and I hope you’ll forgive me.”

Yuuri’s eyes spilled over, and he leaned hard against Viktor. “You being forgiven was never a question. I just wanted to know that you understood where I was coming from, and to understand where you were coming from. Thank you for telling me. But…” He pulled away and looked searchingly into Viktor’s eyes. “Skating? You don’t care about skating anymore?”

“I still care about skating,” Viktor reassured him. “I love skating, skating is my life, there is no danger of me retiring yet unless I’m forced into it. It’s just that if something terrible happened, and for some reason I had to choose between skating and being there for our baby, I wouldn’t think twice or have a single regret about leaving the ice. It kind of scared me when I realized that, because my life has been defined by skating for so long. Even when you came into it, you were a skater and it means as much to you as it does to me.”

“Good.” Yuuri looked at the bed. “Do we really have to make this properly? We’re just going to mess it up making up.”

“Good point.” Viktor's heart-shaped smile that Yuuri had missed so much lit up his face, and Yuuri couldn't help throwing Viktor down on the bed.


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> March, leadup to Worlds, some goofy drama and some big news.
> 
> Timeline: March 2015

March passed quickly, with a brief interruption for Romana’s twentieth birthday. Thankfully, Romana had the sense not to try to involve Yuri in that in any way, so it was just dealing with the publicity. Much was made of her not being a teenager anymore, although she was still so much younger than Lev.

When they landed in Shanghai, Yuuri turned on his phone to find several texts from Yuuko. She was going to be a day late – Mari had slipped while mopping at the onsen, and Yuuko didn’t want to get on the plane until she knew that Mari and the baby were all right. Later messages confirmed that both Mari and the baby were fine, and that Mari was under doctor’s orders to be more careful and Hiroko’s orders to take a few days off to watch her brother and her good friend skate.

“Vitya, Yuuko says she’s fine, we do not need to go to Japan,” Yuuri said. “She’s been through pregnancy before, she’s got Mom right there keeping an eye on her, the doctor said everything’s okay, we just need to have a little faith in them. We probably have the World Team Finals, there’s not much time, we need to get back and get practiced and keep up with studying for our exams. Or I do, anyway.”

Viktor relaxed into Yuuri’s arms, but he still sounded upset. “I know, but… that’s our kid, Yuuri! We should be there to take care of it!”

“If Mari had expected that, she wouldn’t have agreed to this, and you know that, too. If something had happened, you and I would be on the first plane we could get, but she’s _fine_.”

Viktor took a couple of deep breaths. “I know. I wish Misha were here, he’d gladly smack some sense into me. I wonder if Bin’s here yet? He’ll want to know, anyway, and he probably has some advice for how to handle this.”

Bin wasn’t there, but Kamil was, with his daughter. Kamil was sympathetic – he’d hated being away from Nadiya when she was pregnant, and he could help Viktor feel better about his nerves. When Bin arrived, he was even more helpful.

 

The biggest help was getting everyone together to go out for dinner, though. Chris and Phichit made it impossible to not be in a good mood, right up until the words “Dogs are stupid and so are you” came out of Yuri’s mouth directed at JJ.

“How dare you talk about Makkachin and Vicchan like that?!” Viktor shouted. If it weren’t for Yuuri, he just might have flipped the table.

“They’re not bad, for dogs, but Potya’s better,” Yuri said. “Cats just are.”

“He’s right, Viktor,” Chris said. “Makkachin and Vicchan are wonderful dogs and I love them very much, but they are handicapped by being dogs instead of cats.”

“Cats are boring,” Seung Gil cut in before Viktor could retort. “Dogs are way better. For one thing, they’re actually useful even if you don’t live on a farm. Cats are lazy if you have them in cities.”

From there, the room divided into cat lovers and dog lovers. Phichit bravely walked between the two sides. “There are more than just cat lovers and dog lovers. Down with the binary, UP WITH HAMSTERS!” It worked to break the tension, although they did institute a rule that JJ and Yuri were not allowed on the same side of the room anymore.

 

“How To Abandon Your Practice Son For Your Real One and Still Be The Good Guy,” Yuuri read from the internet article Phichit sent him the next day. “Be sure to find Yuri and talk to him, okay?” Yuri found the whole thing to be “stupider than JJ” and was perfectly happy to let it all go.

Also amusing was the article about the love at the top of men’s and ladies’ skating being over, as everyone turned on each other. “Did anyone actually take that fight seriously?” Chris asked when he saw the article. “When Michele and Sara are on opposite sides, how can you possibly?” Michele had sided with Emil in favor of dogs; Sara had joined Mila in supporting Yuri and cats.

“Doesn’t matter that none of us took it seriously, it makes for an interesting article,” Yuuri said. “There are still people out there who are eager to read about me and Vitya divorcing because we’re not really soulmates. I just laugh.”

“Only thing to do at this point!” Viktor said, hugging Yuuri from behind. “Although it’s going to be annoying when our kids are old enough to read.”

“Kids?” Chris raised his eyebrows.

“Well, for now there’s only the one, and Mari says they’d probably know if there were more, but we are planning on having another one later,” Yuuri said. “Vitya didn’t forget to tell you about twins.”

“Or triplets!” Yuuko said. “Hi everyone, we finally made it. Mari’s already threatening to rebel against Hiroko telling her to take it easy for a few days.”

“Sounds like Mari.” Yuuri pulled away from Viktor to hug her. “You missed the great pet war. Phichit won.”

“I saw the article! Have you guys heard anything about Paul? Is he here? He wasn’t mentioned…”

“Paul isn’t here yet. He and Sergei are coming out tomorrow, Skye says. Doctor appointments made it impossible for him to get out today, and she didn’t have any updates on recovery, just that it’s progressing and they still don’t know for sure about coming back next season.”

 

The first day of skating was ice dancing and pairs. They went to watch the ice dance with Georgi, Chris, and Kamil and his family. Olesya and Anatolij skated early, but well, taking an early lead that held up going into the final group. Anya and Christov beat them, as did the first of two French teams skating back to back. Anaïs and Bastien, the older group, struggled unexpectedly and finished well behind the leaders. Jolanda and Masumi took second for the day.

Most of their friends left after the ice dancing, but Yuuri and Viktor stuck around with Yuri. Yuri rolled his eyes. “You guys have no reason to care about Stas. You don’t have to stay, I’m old enough to be here by myself, and no one’s seen Lev.”

“Lev’s probably busy either in last-minute wedding preparations or last minute ditching at the altar preparations,” Viktor said. “We don’t have to stay with you… but this proves a point to the media that you are family and we’re not going to abandon you just because you can’t see the wonderfulness that is dogs. It’s not like we’ve never been to Shanghai before, and we’ll probably be back in the future!”

Yuri snorted. “Fine, whatever, suit yourselves.”

Stas and Salomat skated well, but not well enough to get into the final group. Russia’s team finished fourth, Japan’s sixth, and Stas and Salomat eighth.

As they were leaving, Paul and Skye caught up to them. Skye looked like she'd been crying, so Yuuri was already half-expecting Paul's news. "The doctors have checked out my knee, and the damage was worse than they thought at first. They say that if I really pushed my rehab and got lucky, I have about a fifty/fifty chance at Nationals, but if I push and don't get lucky, I could screw things up even worse than they already are. I'm completely out next season, so I'm going to take it easy and consider myself retired. Not gonna rule out the possibility of a comeback, though!"

Viktor and Yuuri both hugged Paul. "We're going to miss you. I'm sorry to see you go like this, but it sounds like the right choice."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I don't owe anyone an explanation, but. Between my cousin's miscarriage, a mass in memorium of my grandmother that said cousin couldn't come to because of, and some anxiety about work (not in danger of losing my job, just a new boss after ten years with the old amazing one), writing is happening much more slowly and infrequently than usual. I'm hoping it'll get better... time heals and in two weeks I'll have a much better idea how things are gonna go with the new boss... but I'm not going to make promises because my brain loves to make a liar out of me.
> 
> Love you guys, this is NOT abandoned or on any kind of official hiatus! <3


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Worlds Days 2 and 3.
> 
> Timeline: March 26-27, 2015

Ladies started the second day of skating. Yuuko wouldn’t be skating until the final group, but Yuuri and Viktor went early anyway. They found Paul in the audience. “Hey! How are you?” Yuuri asked.

“Not good. The surgery I had after Four Continents scarred weird, so it’s taking longer than it should just to regain full range of motion. They say I should be able to skate again, but probably not in time for Nationals, and I’m still deciding if I want to come back after. I won’t make a final decision until I see what happens when I get out on the ice. A high school friend of mine played college football, and after a knee injury he was never the same player. If it’s the same for me, I don’t want to come back just to suck, you know?”

“Yeah, I get that,” Viktor said. “We’ll miss you, but you have to do what you think is right for yourself. How’s Skye taking it?”

Paul stared down at his hands. “She’s started talking about retiring herself, after this competition. I’m hoping Yuuko and Raisa can talk her out of it – she has a chance at the next Olympics, if she wants to skate, and I’m worried that if she retires because I did, before she’s ready, she’ll resent me for it. It’s not fair, but it’s human.”

“Oh no! I hope she doesn’t retire,” Yuuri said. “She’s too good to lose before she’s ready.”

The first result that mattered at all to Yuuri and Viktor was seeing Amy Wang make the free skate – Paul was happy because it meant three Americans in the free skate, and Yuuri and Viktor cared because she was Phichit’s rinkmate. Their friends started skating in group four, with Raisa struggling a bit and ending up in fourth place for the moment. Mila, on the other hand, did great, tearing up the ice for a 62 and the lead, which she took into the final group. Yuuko was the first skater in the final group, and her 69 set a very high bar. It didn’t last long, as Skye pulled out a beautiful performance that included a clean triple axel. Cathy beat Mila as well, but Sara didn’t – Mila was guaranteed final group in the free skate. Kei also skated very well, but Iona stumbled badly, finishing in twelfth for the day. It was unlikely that she’d make it into the medals, although she was well within striking distance of top six.

Skye joined them halfway through the pairs free skate. “Hey guys, I take it from how everyone’s staring at me that Paul’s told you the news?”

“Are you seriously thinking about retiring? After that?” Yuri demanded. “That was a triple axel better than some of the mens’ finalists are gonna do, why would you retire now?”

Skye took the seat beside Paul and laced her fingers through his. “When I was a kid dreaming about making it big, I set three goals for myself: an Olympics medal, a triple axel, and gold at the Grand Prix Finals. I’ve done two of the three now, and with gold at the Olympics, I can live without the Grand Prix Finals gold. I don’t want to go for a quad, so if I retire now, I think I can still feel good about my career. Paul and I can plan our future together, instead of him trying to move on from skating and me dragging him back in to come to competitions with me. Right now, I’m thinking one more year. One more shot at that Grand Prix gold, Paul can take the year to focus on his rehab and seeing how he feels, and if he decides not to come back, I’m done too. 24’s a little young for retirement, but not that young.”

“Skye…”

“I know, you don’t want me retiring for you, Paul.” Skye cuddled in. “But do you want me to keep skating even though my heart’s no longer in it?”

“I don’t guess that’s any better, is it,” Paul said. “I guess we’ll just have to see what happens over the next year, then.”

Jake and Caylee won the pairs, as expected. Angelina and Timofey got bronze for Russia, the Japanese team finished sixth, and Salomat and Stas seventh. It was a good showing, setting Russia up well for qualifying for the World Team Trophy, and Japan wasn’t worried about their placement.

 

The free dance happened before the men’s skate. Japan was not exactly pleased when their team dropped to finish tenth. They weren’t horribly worried about qualifying, but it did affect perception. The French team won gold, Anya and Christov jumped Jolanda and Masumi for silver, leaving the Swiss bronze.

Phichit and Seung Gil skated back to back to start the third group in the men’s short program. Only one skater had broken 70 yet, allowing lots of room, so Phichit’s 72 was a promising start. Seung Gil and Kaleb both stayed behind him. Viktor could easily imagine Yuri’s disgusted face when JJ beat Phichit to set the bar at 76 – it wouldn’t hold, but it might be enough for top ten. Rykov took JJ’s lead. Both of the other Japanese skaters struggled, causing Viktor to stop stretching and go to Yuuri. “Relax. You’ll do fine, Sachio and Togai can recover tomorrow. Just focus on getting top two, that should be easy, and Japan can’t be disappointed in you.”

Yuuri nodded. “Our pairs did better than expected, ice dance did worse. But with Iona…”

“Kei’s good. Only the top two count, so if she and Yuuko both finish in the top five, that’s a huge statement. All you can do is your best, and I know you will.”

“Thanks.” Yuuri kissed Viktor’s cheek. “Now go warm up, I don’t want you not at your best because my head is stupid.”

Michele finished the fourth group very strong, with an 85, giving him a good shot at the final group for the free skate. Kamil’s short program was something of a disaster, leaving him behind JJ. Viktor looked over to Yuuri, but Yuuri seemed all right. At least Georgi and Bin still had to skate, so there was time. If Kamil’s struggles bothered Georgi at all, it didn’t show, as he earned a 95. Bin ended up behind Michele.

Viktor walked out with Yuuri, kissing his ring before Yuuri stepped out on the ice. He started well, landing his first quad cleanly, and his spins were magnificent. His other jumps were clean, and watching Yuuri skate was always enchanting. Viktor couldn’t hang around to listen to Yakov’s critique, but he did pay attention when the score was announced, and even on the ice he couldn’t help the loud cheers when it was announced – 101.76, a new world record. Let the JSF complain about Yuuri not helping their case now!

He quickly composed himself, getting in the right mindset for being a soul tortured in Hell. It was quite the shift, but that’s what Viktor was great at. He could channel his joy over Yuuri’s score into energy for his jumps, and his triple axel was huge. When he skated over to Yakov, he was sure the score would be over 100 again, and it would just come down to judges’ taste whether he was ahead of Yuuri or behind. He ended up behind, but only by six tenths.

The first thing the press asked: “You said baby news would have to wait for Worlds. It’s Worlds. Is there baby news?”

Yuuri tucked his face into Viktor’s shoulder to laugh. Viktor just grinned. “So impatient! We are not prepared to share any baby news yet.”

“You haven’t been back to Hasetsu since New Year’s… does that mean you’ve given up?”

“No, it means that they have stored samples they can use, so I wouldn’t be needed, and we are trying to time it so that neither Yuuri nor I has to withdraw from any Grand Prix competitions to be present for the birth of our child. A child conceived this month would be due around the time of Nationals, which is no good either.” Viktor gave Yuuri a squeeze. “What we do have is another world record! I’m so proud of Yuuri!”

“Does it ever get old, like winning another world record or another gold medal is just routine now? Expected? We know how you hate doing what’s expected of you.”

“It might, if it were just me,” Yuuri said. “If I were always only competing against myself, with no one to push me, I can see where that might get old. Competing against my husband helps keep it exciting, as every time we get out on the ice there’s a question.”


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Free Skates! Some good, some bad.
> 
> Timeline: March 28, 2015

Ladies went first on the last day of the competition. Iona had a nice bounce back, probably not enough to get her even in the top five, but it would be a much better standing for her than twelfth. Ling, China’s young skater who was showing far more promise than anyone else China had, showed her age of 16 and let her nerves get the better of her. At the start of the final group, France’s young star Elodie had the lead, followed by Iona.

Sara started off the final group with a lovely skate, beaten almost right away by Mila. Cathy couldn’t quite keep up, while Kei guaranteed herself and Japan a medal with a sparkling performance. Yuuri held his breath watching Yuuko, but she pulled through, giving Japan its second medal and herself either silver or gold.

Skye looked great through the first two jumps of her program, but then it was mistake after mistake. Aside from not being able to hit anything, she looked fine, but triple jumps were singled, she fell on her attempt at the triple axel, and she stepped out of a spin way too early. Yuuri couldn’t see any signs of injury and she’d seemed fine when he wished her luck. “Paul, is something wrong?”

“Not that she told me about, and she seemed fine when she left to go to the locker room,” Paul said, frowning hard at the ice. “She’s not the type to throw a performance this important for anything, and she doesn’t have problems with anxiety or anything…”

Skye ended up in seventh, just ahead of Iona. Yuuko and Kei claimed silver and gold, and although Yuuri still felt bad for Skye and Paul, he joined Viktor’s celebration when he realized that meant Mila had earned the bronze. Yakov wouldn’t let them sit and enjoy it for long, they had their own skate to get to, but he was smiling when he came to round up his skaters.

 

Halfway through the men's free skate, Yuuri had to smile at the standings. The current leaders were Togai, Phichit, and Seung Gil. It wouldn’t hold up, but it was great to see. Sachio recovered from his bad short program, but Kamil didn’t, ending up behind Togai. JJ took the lead from Sachio and held it through the end of the group. Sachio and Rykov were both guaranteed a top ten finish, letting Yuuri relax. He should medal, which would keep Japan happy. Very happy if he managed to match Yuuko’s gold.

Christophe had a great skate that gave him a good chance at a medal, while Michele struggled with a triple lutz-triple loop combo. Bin did well, not well enough to beat Christophe, while Georgi did enough to get himself on the podium to set up the Feltsman sweep. Yuuri walked out with Viktor. “Good luck.” Viktor immediately proved that he didn’t need luck, he was just that good. Big jumps, clean jumps, his spins were crisp and looked effortless, and Yuuri couldn’t look away. He couldn’t stay to listen to Yakov, if Yakov had anything to say. Yuuri certainly hadn’t noticed much.

When Viktor’s score was announced, Yuuri wanted so badly to skate over to Viktor and hug him and never let go, but he didn’t have that option. He had to stay and prepare for his own skate. Somehow, he had to go out and earn close enough to 200 to put himself over 300 as well. He started off just a little shaky – his triple axel-half loop-triple salchow combo was clean, but just barely. After that, he settled into his program. He could make up for the mistake with PCS, as long as he didn’t overthink things too badly, and he didn’t.

Viktor was right there to hug him the second he stepped off the ice. “I think you beat me!”

“I don’t know… Yakov?”

“It will be close, but I think Vitya’s right. That said…” Yuuri listened to Yakov’s critique as attentively as he could between Viktor’s hugs and his brain telling him it wasn’t enough. Yakov patted Yuuri’s shoulder when the score came up. “Don’t worry about the challenge for this year. If you don’t get it at the World Team Trophy, you’ll get it next season, and I’m proud of what you’ve accomplished this season.” 199 wasn’t 200, but it was enough to add to his 101 from the day before for an overall 300 and a gold medal.

 

“Two more world records for you, and twin gold medals to take home to Hasetsu,” Yuuri was greeted with after getting through the medal ceremony and getting changed. “Yesterday, things didn’t look good for Japan, today they’re comfortably in the World Team Trophy. How do you feel, knowing that you and your good friend are responsible for that shift?”

“Well, Kei and Sachio both helped, especially Kei’s silver medal,” Yuuri said. “We’ve got a hard road if we want to win gold, though; Russia medaled in all four disciplines.”

“What will you be doing now?”

Yuuri bit his lip to avoid blurting out the first thing that came to mind, that this was a subtle fish for baby news. “I would be extremely surprised if either Viktor or I are not chosen for our nation’s World Team Trophy team, so we’ll both be working hard for that. We’ll be graduating from university in June, assuming we pass, so that’s likely to be a focus as well. After graduation we’ll take some time off, have a nice vacation, and then it’ll be back to work for next year.”

“Nothing special planned for the rest of this year?”

Yep. Baby fishing. “Well, like I said, graduation. That’s going to be a special time.”

“So no baby news?”

Viktor took over with a giant smile. “We are still not prepared to share any news there may be about a baby. When we are prepared, I will talk so much about it that you all might regret how often you’ve been pestering us!”

“Russia’s in first, you missed gold by a very slim margin, and your rinkmates took bronze. Yakov must be thrilled with how his skaters did at this competition.”

“That doesn’t mean he’s going to let any of us slack off before the Team Trophy, unless Russia chooses Rykov over Georgi! I don’t see that happening, but it might.”

“Yakov will be seventy soon. Do you think he might want to retire in the near future?”

“He’s said he doesn’t mean to retire until at least Georgi, Yuuri, and I do. As long as he can coach us, I know Yuuri and I at least want him to, and I can’t imagine Georgi is interested in changing coaches at this time. Mila’s harder to say, and it’s quite possible Yuri will need to change coaches at some point, but I wouldn’t expect it anytime soon.”

 

They caught up to Kamil at the hotel. Kamil waved them over. “Hey. You might get asked about it – I just announced I was retiring on Twitter.”

“Really? Already?” Viktor said, reaching out to take Yuuri’s hand. “Why?”

“I made this decision over a month ago, and you can see it showed in the competition.” Kamil smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Nadiya’s pregnant again, she told me last month, and my heart just hasn’t been on the ice since. Her first pregnancy was rough on her, I didn’t think she’d want to go through it again, but she does. I don’t want to leave her this time, and she’s accepted that.”

Yuuri hugged Kamil. “We’re going to miss you. Stay in contact, you understand?”

“Of course. Twitter is one of the greatest things ever invented!” Kamil hugged back, and then hugged Viktor. “Rumor has it Kaleb’s leaving, too, and I can’t blame him. Too many kids to keep up with!”


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's far too much to take in here, so much to do, so much to see. An enchanted moment and it sees me through.
> 
> Timeline: March 29, 2015

Viktor and Yuuri were scheduled for the last two skates of the exhibition. There was a bit of confusion when Viktor skated out in an ogre costume, which didn’t last long when “All Star” started playing and Viktor started goofing off to the music. The audience burst into laughter at Viktor’s antics at the line “the ice we skate is getting pretty thin”, as Viktor pretended to be scared and headed for the exit. He skated off to thunderous applause, pausing just long enough to hug Yuuri as Yuuri headed out to the ice.

Yuuri’s Rafiki costume also drew some headscratches, but Viktor couldn’t hang out and enjoy it. While “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” played, he found Yuuko and the triplets. “Do you have it?”

“Duh!” all three said in unison. Loop handed Viktor an adorable Japanese doll whose head had been colored with a silver marker. It was dressed in a very simple beige and white checked kimono-esque outfit.

“Perfect, thank you!” Viktor cuddled the doll and waited for his cue – a change in music, to “The Circle of Life”. He kept the doll shielded as best he could without making it obvious what he was carrying, and when Yuuri came out of a triple axel, Viktor handed him the doll. Yuuri held it up, skating a lap of the rink with Viktor by his side.

They didn’t make it five steps out after changing into normal clothes before a reporter was screaming at them. “BABY?!”

“Baby!” Viktor confirmed, waving with his free hand. “Yuuri and I are expecting a child in mid to late September.”

It took a while before they could hear another understandable question. Yuuri inched closer to Viktor. “We’d love to answer your questions, but we can’t hear you if you’re all shouting over each other. One at a time, please.”

“Would you prefer a boy or a girl?”

“We have no preference,” Viktor said. “The only real difference it’ll make for years is whether its name is Viktorovich Katsuki-Nikiforov or Viktorovna Katsuki-Nikiforova.”

“Does that mean you’re planning for your child to be a Russian citizen?”

“Of course! As children of parents with different citizenships, our children will be dual citizens until they choose which country they prefer to represent.” Viktor winked. “A daughter who chooses to skate might prefer to go to Japan to continue Japan’s dominance in ladies’ skating, but a child interested in pursuing ballet might prefer Russia because of the stronger tradition here.”

“Children? Does that mean you’re having twins?”

“No,” Yuuri said. “As far as we know, it’s a single birth. We just plan on having at least one more later on. Yuuko and Sasha have both volunteered, if we’re willing to wait until they’re done with their competitive careers.”

“Sasha? Won’t that cause problems with Rykov?”

Viktor and Yuuri exchanged glances, trying not to laugh. Viktor fielded the question. “We’ve spoken to him about it, and the only problem he’s raised is that he’s worried that watching Sasha go through pregnancy and however long she keeps the baby for breast-feeding will change his mind and make him want one of his own.”

“Any chance of Mari wanting to keep this one?”

“Not to the point where she’d fight sending this one with us when it’s time,” Yuuri said. “She’s mentioned a couple times that she might like to have one that she’s going to keep, but that would be a decision to make in a year or two, and Viktor wouldn’t necessarily be involved.”

“Why wouldn't he be? Why would she choose someone other than Viktor?”

“Why not? I’m a pretty cool guy, sure, but she has a few other cool guys in her life, ones who don’t come with ridiculous amounts of media attention.”

“Any chance of her turning to her soulmate…?”

“No,” Yuuri said firmly. “Kokei is married to another woman who prefers that he and Mari not have much contact with each other, and Mari’s perfectly happy with that arrangement. She has no interest in causing problems for Kokei in his marriage.”

“Viktor, given your feelings about soulmates…”

Viktor wrapped his free arm around Yuuri. “I wasn’t there to see it, but I’ve heard enough about how things went that I don’t have any problem at all with their choices. They tried, it didn’t work out, and now they’ve both moved on with their lives. I feel very strongly that people should give their soulbonds a chance, but I do know that sometimes things don’t work.”

Despite the request for one question at a time, Viktor felt a rush of gratitude for Morooka interrupting what sounded like another question about Mari and Kokei to change the subject. “Where did you get the doll?”

Viktor grinned. “The doll belongs to Yuuko’s triplets. They chose the outfit, and I love what they’ve done for hair! Very obvious that this represents our child.”

“Yuuri changing his exhibition skate to The Lion King makes perfect sense, with the announcement of your child. Viktor, your changed exhibition is less obvious. Why ‘All Star’?”

“Any child of a celebrity has to deal with pressure and high expectations of living up to their parents’ reputations. ‘All Star’ is a message to our child that no matter what they become, whether it’s a skater or a dancer or a scientist or working at Yu-Topia, what’s most important to me and Yuuri is that they pursue their own passions instead of trying to be what others expect them to be. It’s something I’ve learned from Mama Hiroko. Naturally, I would love to see my child become an Olympic gold medalist like their father, but I would rather see my child happy with what they’re doing. Becoming a world-class athlete is a lifestyle that can easily wear you down if you don’t genuinely love what you’re doing. It’s not for everyone.”

“When will you be putting your child on the ice?”

“When they’re old enough to have the motor control required and brave enough to get up after a fall and keep going,” Yuuri said. “Like Mari and Yuuko and Takeshi and I were.”

“What if they hate it?”

Viktor could see the start of an eyeroll that Yuuri managed to get under control before he answered. “Then they get to explore other things to find what they do like. Knowing my husband, the surest way to guarantee our kids don’t become something is to create expectations for them!”

“How’s Yuri Plisetsky handling this? Is he excited about being a big brother?”

“Yuri’s already a big brother, and he loves that job,” Viktor said. “His half-sisters are some of his favorite people.”

“Since Viktor and I look at Yuri as our brother, not our son, I expect our kids would be more like Yuri’s niblings rather than his siblings. If he prefers to consider them siblings, that’s his right, of course! No matter how he defines his relationships with us, he is very much part of the family, and that does not change because the family gets bigger.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Viktuuri Baby's Outfit](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/394698354821404189/)


	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri stresses over finals, the baby announcement spawns rumors, and Yuri makes a Very Serious Threat. Bonus Georgi Backstory.
> 
> Timeline: April 2015

They stayed in China an extra day, planned all along, to celebrate Cao Bin’s birthday with Mari, Jiahao, and the Nishigoris. For the most part, Jiahao took after his Chinese family, but he had Hiroko’s big brown eyes and, Bin insisted, her big warm heart. Yuuri found it hard to disagree with Jiahao insisting on hugging everyone.

The flight back was a chance to get back to studying. Yes, there was the World Team Trophy, and yes, Yakov and Japan were counting on him to do well, but Yuuri couldn’t ignore his finals anymore. They wouldn’t let him. Besides, if he was focused on his finals, he couldn’t obsessively read the speculation about Viktuuri Baby #1. Viktor would keep him apprised of anything he might need to know because of press issues; all he had to do was keep his head down.

“So the current consensus is you’re going to be the loving father and I’m going to be the stage dad father,” Viktor said when he decided Yuuri needed a break. “At least most people seem to be of the opinion that you and I are going to do as much of the work raising our child ourselves as we can – yes, Misha is going to babysit, we'll probably ask Yuri to babysit sometimes so we can go out and have a night to ourselves, but that's normal parent behavior. Only a few people have said anything about us handing our baby off to nannies as soon as we bring them home and never having time for them.”

Yuuri looked up from his computer, face scrunched up. “There are people who think we would? Why? Do you have any idea how hard Mom would kick our asses if we tried that?”

“I know that, Yuuri,” Viktor promised. “The thing is, they don’t know your mother, but they do know that Nikiforov means money and money means never doing your own work if you can hire a servant to do it for you. Like how supposedly I’m useless at doing dishes, remember?”

“And then whatever was left of us after Mom got done, Yuri would thoroughly rip to shreds,” Yuuri continued. “He’d forgive us for abandoning him sooner than he’d forgive us for neglecting our own children.”

“I don't know about that, he's just as important to me as anyone else in my family. The only reason the baby's going to be a little more important is that babies can't take care of themselves and can't be trusted unsupervised. Yuri understands that much from his sisters."

"Well, since we’re not going to do either of those, we don’t have to worry about Yuri turning violent on us or which one he'd forgive us quicker for.”

Viktor kissed Yuuri’s temple. “Of course, after your mom and Yuri got done with us, I think Yakov and Lilia would destroy anything those two left behind. Sending them to Japan to work with Minako, or leaving them here to keep working with her if we decide to go to Hasetsu after you retire, that would be one thing, but just giving our child to someone else because we couldn’t be bothered? No.”

“You don’t think Lilia would object to giving up a promising student? Yakov hates the thought. Although she's getting older, too, so...”

“Not to Minako. Lilia respects Minako as a dancer and a teacher. Just look at how much she loves you. She’d be furious if we took our kid from her to give to someone she saw as inferior, but Minako’s great.”

 

When they got home, Yuri was sitting staring at the door, arms crossed. “I saw rumors that you’re going to give your kid to nannies. Just so we’re clear, if you do that, I’m kidnapping Makkachin and Vicchan.”

Yuuri smothered the smile. “You hate dogs.”

“I don’t hate them, I just think cats are the superior pet in every possible way.”

“Message understood,” Viktor said, ruffling Yuri’s hair. “Don’t worry, we wouldn’t have a kid if we didn’t want to raise them ourselves.”

“I know. Just look at those spoiled dogs out there.”

 

The next two weeks, Yuuri was lost in his books when he wasn’t on the ice. Yakov didn’t go too hard on him – when he started slacking, all Yakov had to do was say that Japan was sure to appreciate the eleven points Yuuri would get them, and Yuuri crawled out of his head to focus himself more diligently. Georgi only complained about the favoritism once.

“Yuuri has two months of university left. What are you doing that’s distracting you from your career? If it’s anything less than Anya is due to give birth in the next two months or you’re looking to finish your degree this semester, then shut up and get back on the ice.”

“I’m just saying,” Georgi grumbled. “Viktor’s getting yelled at.”

“Viktor isn’t Yuuri. Ice. Now.”

Yuri squinted up at Georgi. “You know, it never occurred to me to wonder… why aren’t you in school or a dad so that you can avoid the draft? You’re not gonna convince me you have a Ph.D.”

“My brother Artem was killed in Chechnya while serving after being drafted. That means Alexei and I were no longer eligible for conscription, and with me being a high-profile athlete, no one’s going to say I volunteered when I didn’t. I can defer school until after I’m done skating.”

Viktor’s jaw dropped. “You never said! Even when I skated that short program glorifying the Russian army…”

Georgi waved a hand in dismissal. “I was fourteen when it happened, and Artem was kind of an asshole anyway. Don’t get me wrong, I miss him and I wish he weren’t dead, but by the time I came to skate for Yakov, I was pretty much okay with it. Not worth picking a fight over, not with being so new to the rink. Besides, I just assumed that was you telling the draft board to go fuck themselves they couldn’t get you.”

Yakov cleared his throat. “ON. THE. ICE. All of you. NOW!”


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> World Team Championship Begins
> 
> Timeline: April 14-16, 2015

Arriving in Tokyo made Yuuri relax. Last competition of the year and then he could focus on his studies. Sure, he’d have to come up with routines for the next season, but Yakov would probably let him go until after finals before he cracked down hard. Besides, it’s hard to be stressed when your mom met you at the airport with a big hug and a promise to come to Saint Petersburg for Yuuri’s graduation, if he wanted her and Toshiya there.

“I don’t know, Mom, I know me graduating means a lot to you and I would love to show you the city, but the ceremony will be conducted in Russian and I know you don’t speak that, so you’d be lost. I don’t mind you and Dad not coming, Vitya and I know you’re proud of us even if it’s from Hasetsu.” Beside Yuuri, Viktor nodded his agreement.

“Well, all right, dear, if you change your mind just let us know.”

“I’ll be there, I do speak Russian,” Minako added. “So you’ll have someone from home, at least.”

“Thanks, Minako,” Yuuri said, hugging her, too. “And of course we’ll be coming out to Hasetsu at some point this summer, and again in September.”

"Do you guys want to know boy or girl when they can tell?" Mari asked. "I know you don't care which it is, but if you know, it cuts the thinking about names in half."

Viktor and Yuuri looked at each other. "We're planning on having more, so having a list for both would be a good starting place for later," Yuuri said.

"Always good to be prepared, sometimes those girls turn out to just be shy," Minako added.

"There's also the possibility of a trans child," Viktor said. "Depending on when they can express that, we may need to be prepared to choose a new name."

"So that's a no?" Mari said.

"Honestly, I don't care," Yuuri said. "If you want to know, or the doctors want to tell you so it doesn't come out by accident, or it's just so obvious on the sonogram that there's no mistaking it, I won't be mad about knowing, and if you decide not to have them tell you, I'm happy to find out when they're born."

"Viktor?"

"Sounds good to me! Just don't tell us by suddenly insisting that everything in the baby's room and wardrobe needs to be pink." Viktor winked at Mari.

 

Skating started with ice dance. Japan was not expected to do well here, but Anya and Christov gave Russia a decent chance. They finished third, behind France and America, while Japan finished fifth.

Ladies skated second, with Mila being the first skater up. Her 64 started the day off strong, although Skye, skating third, beat her by four points. Raisa had a rather disappointing skate, as did Cathy. Kei broke 70 to take the top spot, beaten by Yuuko, who had the lead at the end of the short program. Yuuri could relax, a little – Japan had to be thrilled with the top two spots in ladies’, and a reasonable expectation of another top two finish in men’s.

Having JJ there instead of Paul made the locker room a little less friendly, but with Bin, Su, and Sachio, it’s not like Yuuri and Viktor didn’t have friends there. The day started well with Sachio and Bin, who both put up big scores. Georgi and Viktor skated back to back. Georgi’s 86 was enough to put him in second, behind Bin – a slightly disappointing placement, considering Viktor and Yuuri were left, but certainly not bad. Viktor skated beautifully – not as well as he had at Worlds, but still much better than anyone else who had performed. His program was clean, it just wasn’t as exceptional as before. It was good enough for a 99, putting him in first. The Canadian and French skaters between him and Yuuri didn’t worry Yuuri at all, and they both ended up toward the bottom of the group.

Right off the bat, Yuuri made a huge mistake, falling on his quad toe loop. He at least recovered well, getting into his spins and steps as beautifully as ever, but another minor mistake on his quad salchow-triple toe loop combo had him a little nervous about beating Bin. A mistake on his triple axel would be enough. Fortunately, the triple axel was its usual reliable self for him.

Yakov didn’t hold back – yes, it was the end of the season, yes, Yuuri was still going to be in second, and yes, he had a legitimate and one-time distraction. That was no reason why he shouldn’t hear about what he did wrong so that he could improve himself. 93 was good, better than anyone but Viktor had done, but Yuuri was capable of so much better. Still, his second-place finish meant that Japan was in the lead after day one, with Russia close behind and America a distant third.

“Yuuri, this was your lowest score of the season. Can you tell us what happened?”

“I fell,” Yuuri said. “It happens to the best of us, even Viktor. This was my only fall in the short program all season, which I consider lucky.”

“Do you think you have a chance at coming back from six points behind to win?”

“My husband, who is standing right here, will never let me say anything but absolutely, I can, I just need to skate my best tomorrow, and he’s right. It won’t be easy, but I can overcome six points.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to skate your best tomorrow? Whatever got in your way today will be gone?”

Yuuri leaned back into Viktor. “Tomorrow, I’ll have more on the line. My six point lead over Bin is not enough for me to get comfortable! I also have a challenge I’m shooting for – Yakov wants to see us break 200, and I got very close at Worlds. That’s what I’ll be focusing on for tomorrow, trying to achieve that goal.”

“Viktor, you’re very close to 200 as well, do you think you can get there?”

Viktor put a finger to his lips. “Yes. Yes I do. I’ll have to have a great skate, but I think I can do it.”

“If you do, that eliminates any chance of Yuuri beating you. Is that okay?”

“Of course that’s okay! I enter competitions to win, for myself and for Russia. I love my husband and I’m happy to see him do well, but we are competitors.”

“No distraction from the baby?”

“None. Mari’s pregnancy is progressing well, and we’re doing what we can to support her through it, but baby or not she would kick our asses if we got distracted from skating,” Yuuri said. “Next fall, in the Grand Prix, with the baby actually being here… we’ll probably be a bit more distracted.”


	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> World Team Trophy, Part 2. Yuuri's brain breaks over a cultural issue. Yakov in the Mafia, he could totally see. But Yuri??
> 
> Timeline: April 17-18

Pairs was not a good event for Japan, but halfway through the competition, Japan and Russia still held their lead. Third-place America was seriously missing Paul. Japan’s ice dance team slipped behind the Chinese, Anya and Christov held on to third, and the Americans jumped the French for first.

Men’s started with very little shakeup. JJ managed to beat out Sachio, while Georgi overtook Bin for likely third. Japan couldn’t hold onto their lead, even if Yuuri beat Viktor badly enough to take first. They’d likely get it back in the ladies’ the next day, Yuuko and Kei were both very strong, but Mila made it harder to be sure of victory, and there was still the pairs. Lina and Tima would beat the Japanese team.

Every point would matter. Yuuri needed to do his best. Japan wouldn’t be disappointed in him if he didn’t come through, but that was no reason not to give up. Viktor took his hand and kissed the ring on it. “May the better skater today win – go get 200!”

With Viktor’s confidence on the ice with him, Yuuri sailed through the first part of his program with ease. His stamina helped him keep up the flow, and as he approached his final jump – the quad toe loop – he thought he just might have done enough. Parts of this program had felt better than at Worlds, others had felt not as good, it would just come down to the judging. Of course, it would’ve helped if he hadn’t two-footed the landing of the quad toe loop.

Yakov let him know about it. No mercy. “Even with that, you did well. Well enough, if the judges are with you, and I suspect they will be.” They were. 200.12. Not nearly enough to put him over 300 overall, but that didn’t matter. He’d done that at Worlds. Next year, he could try to put it all together. The Grand Prix Finals were in Sochi – Yakov would probably want them ready to kick ass and pull out another Feltsman sweep.

Viktor, of course, wasn’t going to sit back and let Yuuri have the glory. He started off huge, putting the judges on notice that they were not done, and he skated an amazing program himself. No major mistakes, but enough minor ones that his score should be close to Yuuri’s. With his better score from the day before, 300 was within reach for him – and he got there. Russia had three points on Japan, with America and Canada battling it out for third twenty points behind them.

“Russia overtook Japan today. Russia and Japan are the clear gold and silver medal teams, but is there any doubt about who gets what?”

“Of course there is! Pairs favors Russia, but ladies’ favors Japan, and I think Mila and Raisa will have to skate very well to keep Russia on top even with Lina and Tima’s help,” Viktor said. “I know my husband will stand behind Mila and hope she can sneak into third, but I certainly wouldn’t blame him for cheering against Raisa, Lina, and Tima. I can’t bring myself to cheer against Yuuko, since she’s family, but I can cheer against Kei easily enough.”

“Yuuri?”

“What he said. I would love to see Mila get third, behind Yuuko and Kei, but other than that I’m going to be cheering against the Russians and for the Japanese skaters.”

“Your season’s done, now, aside from skating this exhibition. What are your plans for the off-season?”

“Finish school, graduate, plan for next season, and prepare for the arrival of our baby,” Yuuri said. “If we have the opportunity, I’d like to take a trip somewhere, but between losing time to college and our baby being due in September, taking a proper vacation may not be possible.”

“Is there any truth to the rumor that you plan to name Yuri Plisetsky godfather?”

Yuuri turned to Viktor, not trusting himself to answer in any sort of intelligible manner when he had no idea why the media was asking about Yuri joining the Mafia. Viktor put on his best plastic smile. “No, there is not. This has very little to do with Yuri and much more to do with the fact that there was no reason for the question of godparents to occur to Yuuri and not much more to occur to me. I know I was baptized into the Russian Orthodox church, but I barely remember my godparents – they were good friends of my parents who I lost contact with after becoming an orphan. Yakov and Lilia were the ones who took me in and made sure I was looked after and taught what I needed to know.”

“You said very little to do with Yuri. What’s wrong with Yuri?”

“For one thing, I don’t know if he’s been through the appropriate sacraments, religion’s not ever something we’ve discussed. More importantly, he’s fourteen. When Yuuri and I sit down and figure out the plan for if some emergency does occur that takes both of us out of our child’s life, we’ll be looking for adults to fill that role. In the future, if Yuri is willing, I think we’d gladly ask him, but not now.”

“Yakov and Lilia?”

“They would be a good choice, but I’m not sure it’s a responsibility they would be willing to accept. I think they’ve both earned their retirement whenever they’re ready for it, and being responsible for children is not a retirement!”

 

Once they made their escape to their hotel room, Yuuri plopped down on the bed. “What exactly are godparents anyway?”

Viktor lay beside him and put an arm around him. “In theory, they’re the ones responsible for ensuring that a child is raised to know the Christian faith, and to assume responsibility for the child should they be left orphaned like I was. In reality, it’s something that doesn’t mean much to anyone I know.”

“So it has nothing to do with the Mafia?” At least this made a little more sense, aside from Yuri being fourteen. And not Christian that Yuuri knew about.

Viktor giggled. “Not originally! I have no idea why the movie’s called that. I guess because the don is kind of like a godfather to the people under him and their families?”

“Any ideas who who we should ask to take our kid if it becomes necessary?”

“Well, there’s some obvious choices. Mari. Sasha and Rykov, and wouldn’t the media love that one. Misha and Emiliya. Yuuko and Takeshi. The problem isn’t going to be finding someone we trust and respect enough to ask, it’s going to be in picking one!”

 

Pairs increased the Russians’ lead, but only by one. When Raisa improved her standing to where she could finish no worse than sixth, Yuuri squeezed Viktor’s hand. If Mila improved her place, too… her score was good, but not likely to be good enough. Skye came out on fire, determined to remind everyone why she was considered one of the best skaters in the world, and it worked. Neither Kei nor Yuuko were able to match her skate, and she claimed the top spot while Japan’s ladies took second and third. It was enough. Japan claimed gold by two points, Russia silver, and America a very convincing bronze.


	35. Chapter 35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> End of the season!
> 
> Timeline: April 2015

Yuri very pointedly ignored everything about April 20th. Or close enough, anyway. He gave no thought to the wedding happening down in Italy. He ignored everything on social media asking where he was and why he wasn’t at that wedding. He ignored phone calls from everyone except Yakov, who just wanted to make sure Yuri knew not to go to the rink that day, and Otabek.

“Best friend or not, one word about the wedding and I’m hanging up on you,” Yuri warned when he answered that one.

“That excited, huh?”

“Yeah. What’s up?”

“You’re probably not going to like it much, but at least it’s something I think you can understand and respect.”

Yuri closed his eyes. “You’re going up to seniors next year.” It wasn’t unexpected, Otabek was going to be seventeen and he was good enough to make a statement for Kazakhstan. Yuri wasn’t going to try to convince him to stay in juniors. It was only one year until he was moving up to seniors himself, anyway.

“Yeah. That, and I’m staying in Canada another year. Alain and Nathalie found a coach who is willing to move to Kazakhstan with me next year, but he’s only ever been an assistant coach, so we’re doing a one-year trial run here so he has help if he needs it. If this works out, at least I’ll be home for my eighteenth birthday. After that… who even knows. Depends what happens with my dream.”

“Who else is moving up?”

“Leo, for sure. America was not happy with their showing in the World Team Trophy men’s skate, and while they can’t blame Paul for being injured, they’re pressuring Leo to come up and be his replacement.”

Yuri snorted. “Yeah, no surprise there, the two idiots they sent this year don’t have half Leo’s talent combined. What about Emil and Guang Hong and Minami?”

“No idea, haven’t heard from them. Emil’s likely, he wants to skate against Michele. I’d guess Minami would want a shot at the Junior Grand Prix Finals. He’s not going to win, but he didn’t get to go this year. Guang Hong… I don’t know. He might move up because Leo is, or he might stay back to pick up some medals.”

Yuri’s phone beeped, and he glanced at it quickly. A message from Boris – the wedding happened, Lev showed up, Lev went through with everything. Yuri rolled his eyes. “It’s official. Lev’s married. Maybe his kid’s not completely fucked after all.” There was silence on the line. “Beka?”

“I don’t want to get hung up on.”

Yuri smirked. “Moron. What?”

“Just wondering if the kid would be better off like you were, with Lev gone from the beginning, than having Lev leave after they’ve had a chance to bond. Neither’s good, but which is worse?”

“Ugh. I don’t know.”

“Do you know when the kid is due?”

Yuri snorted. “Same general timeframe as Viktor and Yuuri’s kid. Press is gonna have a cow.”

 

Yakov had told Yuuri to take a week off from skating – stretching, fine, dance a bit if he felt like it, but this was his chance to catch up from all the studying he’d missed to skate. At first, Yuuri was grateful and threw himself into his books, but by day three, his brain was itching. Dancing wasn’t enough. He needed to be on the ice.

Yakov acknowledged his presence, but didn’t come talk to him when he got on the ice. Viktor skated over. “What are you doing here? I thought you’d be studying!”

“I needed a break,” Yuuri said. “Vacation’s one thing, but it just feels wrong to be this close to a rink and not skate for this long, even with Yakov’s permission. I’m still going to take it easy. What are you up to?”

“Well, my jump roster was feeling a little incomplete, so I’m training a quad loop. Yakov thinks I’m crazy, but that’s what I’m doing. Do you want to join me?”

Yuuri initially shook his head, but reconsidered. “I don’t suppose it can hurt anything to at least try. Are you going to be trying this in competition this year?”

“Probably not. I don’t want to focus too much on it, not with everything else we’ve got going on, so I’m going to take it slow and plan to have it ready for 2016. I have the flip, it won’t bother me if someone beats me to the quad loop.”

“And Yakov’s okay with that?”

“Yes, he thinks it’s a good idea to focus on an incoming baby over a jump I don’t really need. Speaking of, have you heard anything from Mari? Didn’t she have an appointment today?”

Yuuri checked his phone, ignoring a glare from Yakov. “Yes, she did, and no, she hasn’t sent anything about it. It was late, though, she may still be at the doctor’s office.” He glanced over at Yakov and put his phone away. “And we should skate before Yakov throws me out for distracting you.”

 

Yuuri didn’t stay long, and when he left, Viktor went with him with Yakov’s blessing. They stopped for lunch at one of their favorite cafes. While they were there, Yuuri’s phone alerted him about a message. “Mari.” He grinned and held out his phone. “They did an ultrasound! She sent us the picture!”

Viktor squealed and grabbed the phone, staring intently at the fuzzy image of their baby. “Perfect! What does she say about it?”

Yuuri gently took his phone back and forwarded the picture to Viktor to stare at while he read the information. “Development looks normal, everything’s in the right place in the right numbers, heart rate looks good… the tech refused to commit to a sex guess, the baby was at a bad angle to tell, and since we don’t care Mari didn’t push.”

“Perfect,” Viktor repeated, still staring spellbound at the picture. “Yuuri, that’s our baby. Can we go back to the rink and show off?”

“I don’t think anyone’s still there… I know Yuri and Mila were heading for dance training after lunch, and Georgi’s already off on vacation, and I don’t know why Yakov would stay if his skaters aren’t there. Better to go to Lilia’s. I’m sure she’ll forgive us for interrupting, if we do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boy or girl? If you have a vote, let me know!

**Author's Note:**

> If you have suggestions for ships you'd like to see in this 'verse, please let me know in the comments!
> 
> Canon: Christmas (Chris and Mystery Man Masumi), Makkachin/Vicchan, Yakov/Lilia, Seungchuchu. (Milasara and Emimike are canon, but their story as written is *not*.)
> 
> AU: Otayuri*, Milasara*, Emimike*, JJBella*, Chulacometti, Christophe/Georgi, Chris/Paul, Phichuuri+, Yuuko/Takeshi/Seung Gil, Paul/Rykov, Chris/Viktuuri, Viktor/Yuuri/Rykov, Chris/Seung Gil, Minami/Chris, Chris/Viktor/Yuuri, Chulacometti/Viktuuri, Mari/Georgi, Mila/Georgi, Viktuuri/YuuYu/Otayuri., Phichit/Mila, Marichu, Phiciaociao, Phichit/Leo/Guang Hong, JJSeung, Otaseung, Leoseung, Guangchu, Otachu, Phichit/Yurio.  
> *The stories as written have become AU due to developments in the canonverse of this AU but the ships are still potential canon ships.
> 
> Undecided Canonicity: Leoji, Minami/Yurio/Otabek, Plinami, Otapliroy, Pliroy, JJBek.
> 
> On the list to write in whatever order I get ideas for them: Otabek/OC, Sara/Seung Gil + Georgi/Michele, Mila/Minami, Yakov/Nikolai, Lilia/Minako, Mari/Sasha, Sasha/Rykov, rewrite of Mila/Sara and Emil/Michele


End file.
